NEW YORK – New York’s board of health voted unanimously Tuesday to drastically reduce the amount of artificial trans fats in restaurants, in a move that could set trends for other cities.

The New York Department of Health and Mental Hygiene confirmed its 11-member board voted to reduce the amount of artery-clogging trans fats found in foods to 0.5 grams. Restaurants will not be allowed to use most frying oils with artificial trans fats by July 1 and will have to eliminate the artificial trans fats from all of their foods by July 2008.

The city’s estimated 24,000 restaurateurs had raised several concerns about the ban on trans fats and whether they would be able to remake their kitchen practices in time to comply with the new order.

The notice from the Board of Health said about one-third of daily caloric intake for New York City residents comes from foods purchased in restaurants. “Assuring safe and healthy dining options is a public health priority,” the notice said.

Artificial trans fats can be found in foods fried in partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, margarine and vegetable shortening, such as french fries, fried chicken, taco shells, doughnuts, pizza dough, crackers, cookies and pies.

Many restaurant chains, including Wendy’s International Inc., Starbucks Corp. and Yum Brands have announced plans to eliminate or cut trans fats in their offerings.

McDonald’s Corp. has been working for some time on a healthier cooking oil blend. In 2002, the company said it would introduce a new oil with sharply lower trans fats, but then shelved the plan because of concerns about altering the taste of its iconic french fries.

“Wendy’s and Yum were out in front on developing new oils, but the company that’s going to be the most-pressed is McDonald’s,” said John Owens, an analyst with Morningstar.

“What New York has done – and I would not be surprised if other cities and states followed suit – will certainly accelerate the timing on this.”

The news didn’t seem to affect the stock price of major fast-food chains, as McDonald’s closed up fractionally. Yum Brands, owner of KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, closed up 2.6 percent as the company said it expected to meet profit projections and doubled its dividend.

But Wendy’s dropped marginally even though it had prepared for the ban, introducing oils with zero trans fats.

Chicago is also considering a trans fat restriction, which would apply to large restaurants with more than $20 million in annual sales.

John Kozup, director of the Center for Marketing and Public Policy Research at Villanova School for Business, said the ban could be an opportunity for restaurants.

“The companies can come up with products that are construed as healthier and charge a premium for them,” he said. “There are people in New York who are willing to pay more for healthy foods, the success of the Whole Foods (grocery stores) are evidence of that.”