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I am no fan of demonising particular food choices, or of people permanently cutting anything out of their diet, with one exception. There is that partially hydrogenated vegetable oils (HVOs) containing trans fats are very damaging to health.

In the US, they have been deemed unsafe for human consumption in any amount, with a complete ban from next year.

We have known about their downsides, particularly an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, , and concerted efforts in many countries to remove them from the food supply have  .

Thankfully, in the UK, average consumption is now comfortably lower than the 5 grams per day maximum the . This is largely because manufacturers have voluntarily removed HVOs from most foods, and so a blanket ban has not been necessary.

The trouble is that focusing on average consumption risks . Although you will struggle to find products containing HVOs on the supermarket shelves, it’s hard to avoid them in some cheap independent takeaways.

 Social deprivation

Lack of control over the sale and use of HVOs means that many small fried chicken shops in particular continue to cook with them, and high levels of trans fats are being served up every day, often in the most socially deprived areas.

To gauge the probable impact, look at New York. It banned these fats from the kitchens of restaurants and takeaways in 2007 and a has found 6.2 per cent fewer heart attacks and strokes among residents. That suggests an even more dramatic impact in the subset of citizens who consume more of this food than average.

Still, the UK government refuses to follow suit, convinced by average consumption figures and the apparent success of the voluntary removal of HVOs from packaged foods and by the big fast food companies. Yet studies show that , about three times the recommended daily maximum. In areas where many young people eat a lot of this food, an invisible killer is at work.

It’s not as if HVOs are necessary. You can improve the nutritional quality of fried chicken and chips with no impact on quality, cost or taste. Some takeaways already opt for healthier oils, with a stark reduction in the trans fat content, sometimes to none at all. The continued use of HVOs is largely due to the inertia of some shop owners, and misguided beliefs about taste and shelf life of the stuff they use to fry their food.

Trans fats on the menu

Unfortunately, manufacturers still heavily market these fats, often targeting them specifically at chicken shops. Such oils contain unacceptably high levels of trans fats, yet are used in fryers up and down the country with impunity. No one has to declare their presence in the food being served.

In the absence of a ban, the best hope is that the oil manufacturers step up, educating shop owners, removing the most harmful ones from sale, offering practical alternatives that do not impair taste. And with public health bodies so obsessed with dietary choices, it is curious that there is not more pressure for this to happen.

I hope this failure is not a result of middle class prejudice about the dietary choices of the . From the outside it can sometimes seem that those who fail to live up to puritanical, pleasure-free choices are not worthy of the simplest protection from harm.

There are enough health inequalities as it is, so it is utterly unacceptable to permit the existence of one as needless and damaging as this.

Anthony Warner works as a food industry development chef by day and by night. His first book, (Oneworld), is out now