Schwarzenegger, the Governor of California and a former bodybuilder, who regularly sang the praises of healthy eating and exercising, by signing Assemblyman Tony Mendoza’s legislation in 2008, made California the first state in the USA to ban all restaurants, bakeries and other retail food establishments from using trans fats in their cooking or products.

While, the legislation which does not take effect till 2010, gives outlets sufficient time to switch their cooking processes, as they will no longer be allowed to use any oil, margarine containing trans fats, for spreads or for frying.

However, restaurants will be permitted the use of trans fats for deep-frying yeast dough and in cake batter till 1st January 2011.

While, they have been allowed the use of oils, margarine and shortening with less than a half gram of trans fat, already many restaurants have made the switch to healthy oils, such as, olive, canola and soybean oils.

The legislation comes after several major cities and fast-food chains banned the substance.

With Californian restaurants two-year grace period over to stop cooking with trans fats, eating in California has become healthier, and Scoma’s restaurant on Fisherman’s Wharf was packed Friday with customers, and whose popular items included fried calamari, sautéed scallops and French fries, now cooked in healthier Canola oil.

Trans fats created when hydrogen is added to vegetable oil, acts as a preservative, including enhancing the flavour of some foods, but it has also been tied to high cholesterol, clogged arteries, strokes and heart disease.

Restaurants who fail to comply with the new legislation could face fines up to a $1,000.

Trans fat is created when hydrogen is added to vegetable oil, which acts as a preservative and enhances the flavor of some foods.