DeKALB | Following Wendy’s restaurants’ precedent, Kentucky Fried Chicken announced on Oct. 30 plans to exclude trans fatty oils from its food.

KFC will use low-linolenic oil from soybeans instead of trans fat-laden hydrogenated oils.

“It’s been a two-year process to find the oil without the trans fat, and not to lose the taste of the food,” said Rick Maynard of KFC Public Relations. “This is a permanent switch.”

All KFC restaurants will use the soybean-extracted oil by next April, Maynard said.

Though trans fatty acids are found naturally in some meat and dairy products as a type of unsaturated fat, much of the trans fats consumed in America today come from the partial hydrogenation process of animal fats and plant oils. Studies have found these trans fats raise bad cholesterol and lower good cholesterol, and may increase risk of coronary heart disease, KFC said in a statement.

“Trans fats are made by artificially adding hydrogen — hydrogenation — to vegetable oil, making the oil more saturated,” said associate biology professor Mitrick Johns. “This is done to stabilize the oil so you can cook in it longer without it going bad.”

Removing trans fatty oils from food will make KFC menu items a more healthful choice than before.

“It makes the food much healthier in terms clogging of arteries,” said English professor Sean Shesgreen. “It doesn’t make the food healthier in the sense of fat and in calories. It’s only one measure of health.”

He said this could put pressure on other companies like McDonald’s to follow by removing trans fatty oils from their food as well. New York City’s Board of Health has planned legislation to prohibit restaurants from serving food containing more than a small amount of trans fats.

“Cooking tests have shown that the oil produces good-tasting chicken and many other, but not all, products,” Johns said. “It doesn’t go rancid quickly either.”

Wendy’s restaurants completed their switch from previous trans fatty oil to a non-hydrogenated cooking oil in 6,000 United States locations last August.

The switch only affected Wendy’s french fries and breaded chicken items, also reducing saturated fat found in the menu items by 20 percent on average.