California on Friday has become the first state to ban trans fats from restaurant food after Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill to ban the use of trans fats in the food served in restaurants and grocery stores in the state.

Under the new law, trans fats, long linked to health problems, must be removed from the restaurant food products like oil, margarine and shortening containing trans fats.

The legislation requires all restaurants to remove trans fats-based food by Jan. 1, 2010, and bans other retail food establishments to retail baked goods by 2011. The new law doest not affect the packaged foods. Violators could face fines ranging from $25 to $1,000.

"California is a leader in promoting health and nutrition, and I am pleased to continue that tradition," Schwarzenegger said in a statement Friday. "We are taking a strong step toward creating a healthier future for California."

According to Amy Winterfeld, a health policy analyst for the National Conference of State Legislatures, although, some cities like New York City, Philadelphia, Seattle, Baltimore and Montgomery County, Md. have already banned the fats, but California is the first state to adopt such a law covering restaurants, bakeries, delicatessens, cafeterias and other businesses classified as “food facilities.”

Meanwhile, the California Restaurant Association has opposed the bill, contending that individualizing trans fats as a singularly harmful food product was arbitrary. CRA Spokesman Daniel Conway said a ban for health reasons is the purview of the federal Food and Drug Administration government rather than individual states. He further said that making the law mandatory would prove expensive.

However, Conway said that the association has no plans to challenge the new law in the courts, as many of the state’s restaurants have already eliminated trans-fats to satisfy customers.

On the other hand, the president of the California Academy of Family Physicians, Jeffrey Luther, said that the law would be a tremendous benefit once it takes effect. He went on saying that trans fats are like cigarettes, with no safe level of consumption.

Trans fats, also known as trans fatty acids, are basically vegetable oils with hydrogen, which is added by the process of hydrogenation that turns liquid oil into solid fat. They are cheaper to produce and give more shelf life to products. Trans fats can be used for frying or baking, or put into processed foods and ready-made mixes for cakes and drinks like hot chocolate.

Known to increase blood levels of low density lipoprotein (LDL), or "bad" cholesterol, while lowering levels of high density lipoprotein (HDL), known as "good" cholesterol, trans fat also causes obesity, type 2 diabetes and other serious health problems.