Marriott has become one of the first major hotel groups in the UK to ban cooking oils containing trans-fats.

The move follows recent headlines about Britain’s obesity crisis and the Government’s call to ban the use of trans-fats to combat the problem.

Trans fatty acids – or trans-fats – are found in processed foods and contain no nutritional value. Over-consumption can lead to increased cholesterol levels and the risk of heart disease.

Alan Johnson, the health secretary, likened the scale of the obesity crisis to that of global warming after the publication of a report yesterday by the Obesity Forum, which warned the nation’s rapidly expanding waistlines could bankrupt the NHS.

Johnson said he would commission the Food Standards Agency to establish what action the food industry must take.

Gregg Brown, director of Culinary Development, Marriott UK, said: “Many of the products we use are already trans-fat free but we wanted to take this further step of using trans-fat free oils in our cooking preparation.”

He added the company had been trialling deep frying oils that were trans-fat free and had received positive feedback from customers.

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By Dee Rossi

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