Yesterday, restaurant chain Joe’s Crab Shack was called out by the Center for Science in the Public Interest for continuing to use margarine with a high level of trans fat, in spite of claims made on the eatery’s menu that Joe’s doesn’t use the controversial oils. In response, the company says it plans to get rid of this last bit of trans fat in the coming months.

“Prior to the CSPI’s report, we had made consistent progress in our goal to remove all trans fats from our menu,” reads a statement from Jim Mazany, president of Joe’s Crab Shack, sent to Consumerist. “This means that, to date, there are zero trans fats in our frying oil system-wide; some of our restaurants are already fully trans fat-free; and within 90 days, we intend to be completely trans fat-free in all restaurants.”

The CSPI report did find that in areas where restaurants’ use of trans fat-containing ingredients is restricted, Crab Shacks were indeed using real butter instead of the margarine that sometimes provides customers more than a week’s worth of the maximum recommended amount of trans fat.

Given that the company said back in 2007 that it would rid its menu of trans fats, and the “zero trans fat oils” statement printed in the menu, CSPI pointed out that the restaurant was putting itself in a precarious legal position by still using the trans fat-containing margarine at some locations.

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