California became the first U.S. state to ban trans fats, which are linked to coronary heart disease, after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a new legislation on Friday regarding their removal from restaurants and baked goods.

According to the new law, trans fats, generally associated to severe health problems, must be phased out from restaurant products starting with 2010, and from all retail baked goods by 2011. Violators of the new California ruling will encounter fines of $25 to $1,000. Nonetheless, packaged foods will be excepted from the new measure.

Trans fatty acids, or trans fats, are usually found in partially hydrogenated oils, which have become a very popular ingredient at fast-food restaurants and bakeries because of their longer shelf life compared to other oils.

However, various studies conducted over the past ten years have proved that trans fats can lower “good cholesterol” (high-density lipoproteins) and boost “bad cholesterol” (low-density lipoproteins), which can be a major factor to cause heart disease and other health disorders.

Researchers at the Harvard University School of Public Health estimate that artificial trans fats generate 50,000 premature heart-attack deaths every year.

California, the country’s most densely inhabited state, has been a pacesetter in health and nutrition matters for a long time, and similar bills are pending in several other states. The issue concerning trans fat bans are already being looked into in a significant number of cities and counties, including Montgomery County, Boston, Philadelphia, New York City and Baltimore.

Public health activists trust that the California ban will persuade national and regional chain restaurants to adjust their recipes countrywide. In spite of the fact that the Kentucky Fried Chicken, McDonald’s, Taco Bell, Cheesecake Factory and Wendy’s have begun to avoid trans fats, other chains maintain the use of partially hydrogenated oil in their restaurants.

The California Restaurant Association strongly wrangled with the bill, stating that the federal government and not individual states should issue regulations on trans fat use.