Trans fat may be getting the boot in Pennsylvania restaurants. Then again, maybe not.

Tuesday marked the first meeting of a newly formed statewide task force to research trans fat health effects and consider banning the much-maligned stuff that holds together many snack foods — everything from cookies to crackers.

"Consumers should pay attention to food nutrition labels and avoid foods with high levels of trans fat," State Secretary of Health Calvin B. Johnson said in a press release. "However, this task force will go a step further and work on finding more ways to protect the public's health from some of the negative effects of trans fat."

That step might mean all of Pennsylvania follows in the footsteps of Philadelphia, where city council voted earlier this year to ban trans fats in most dishes in city restaurants as of Sept. 1. New York City has a similar ban.

"We will be looking at what legislation has been passed in other areas," health department spokeswoman Larissa Bedrick said. "I'm not aware of other statewide passages, but we'll decide what's possible or needed for Pennsylvania. It may be that this task force decides (ban legislation) is not the way to go in terms of improving health of Pennsylvanians."

At least one task force member said Tuesday he doesn't think a statewide ban is the way to go.

The task force creation was coordinated by the health department and state Rep. James Wansacz of Luzerne County, who was unavailable for comment Tuesday.

Trans fat forms when food manufacturers turn liquid vegetable oils into solid fats by adding hydrogen — a process called hydrogenation. The process increases food's shelf life and maintains its flavor. But it also raises "bad cholesterol" levels, which may increase risk of heart disease, obesity and diabetes. In 2005, more than 24,700 state residents died from heart disease.

Food manufacturers have been required to label product packaging with some nutrition contents since 1993. In 2006, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration required trans fat content also be added to those labels.

Some cities and counties nationwide have taken an even broader swipe at Americans' consumption of trans fat by banning it as an ingredient in restaurant food.

The task force met Tuesday for three hours in Harrisburg. It is comprised of about 25 members representing the state's departments of health, agriculture, aging and education; local health departments; state legislature; Pennsylvania Restaurant Association; Pennsylvania Food Merchants Association; health advocacy organizations; Penn State University and food manufacturers.

Task force member Ray Hottenstein, owner of The Olde Greenfield Inn in Lancaster and a former president of the state restaurant association, isn't convinced trans fat bans are hitting their mark — because 75 percent of food is consumed at home, not at restaurants.

He said legislators supporting bans are using restaurants to bring attention to the dangers of trans fat.

"They're not blaming (the restaurant industry) for the problem, but they're trying to use us to educate people," he said. "This isn't as much about a ban as it is about education."

Hottenstein said most task force members — at least at Tuesday's meeting — didn't seem to endorse a statewide ban.

"I was surprised that the majority of people in that room were not interested in passing legislation as much as educating people about trans fat," Hottenstein said.

The task force touched on some problems related to banning trans fat, Hottenstein said, including who would enforce a ban and how enforcement would be funded. Also discussed was the dilemma that substituting other ingredients to eliminate trans fat hasn't always resulted in healthier food.

"Someone said one company got away without trans fat in their food production, but then they tripled the amount of saturated fats," Hottenstein said. "Then someone suggested substituting carbohydrates for trans fat. That would give you added taste, but it also means higher sugar and calories."

Hottenstein also questioned the need for new legislation regulating ingredients in restaurant dishes, especially now that most people concerned about nutrition probably know trans fat is a no-no. And many restaurants have already eliminated trans fat in cooking.

"As an industry, we're opposed to (ban legislation) because we're already working on it," Hottenstein said. "If you give us a chance, we'll clean this up ourselves. At The Olde Greenfield Inn, we don't serve anything with knowledge that it has trans fat in it. We've already weaned ourselves off that."

Hottenstein said the task force also discussed ramifications of requiring restaurants to list nutritional contents for their dishes on menus or elsewhere in restaurants.

"I have 457 items on my menus — post it where?" Hottenstein said.

Task force meetings are scheduled through March, and Hottenstein said he doesn't expect any decisions much before that.

E-mail: slindt@lnpnews.com