CKE Restaurants, Inc. announced today that its Carl’s Jr.® and Hardee’s® restaurant chains are the first to fully convert to Omega-9 Canola Oil from Dow AgroSciences. This continues the important trend of food companies converting to zero trans fat canola oil. This “next generation” canola oil has the lowest saturated fat levels among the new trans fat alternatives and a high level of heart-healthy (omega-9) monounsaturated fat, allowing the CKE restaurants to eliminate trans fats and reduce saturated fats in their fried menu items.

“We are very pleased to announce our conversion to zero trans fat, 100 percent canola cooking oil in our restaurants by January of next year,” says Andrew F. Puzder, president and chief executive officer of CKE Restaurants, Inc. “We have evaluated many zero trans fat cooking oil alternatives and 100 percent canola cooking oil was the ideal oil option to satisfy both our health and taste criteria.”

We’re excited to be working with two iconic brands like Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s. And now is a great time for them to convert,” says David Dzisiak, commercial oils leader for Dow AgroSciences. “Due to the crop production cycle, it takes time to grow and produce the oil, so the time for operators to place their orders for future conversions is now, ensuring that we get the right amount of crop produced.”

Canola oil has received a qualified health claim from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, stating “limited and not conclusive scientific evidence suggests that eating about 1 1/2 tablespoons (19 grams) of canola oil daily may reduce the risk of coronary heart disease due to the unsaturated fat content in canola oil. To achieve this possible benefit, canola oil is to replace a similar amount of saturated fat and not increase the total number of calories you eat in a day.”