OTTAWA — McDonald's Restaurants was battered by the Commons health committee Thursday for not reducing heart-clogging trans fats in its french fries, chicken McNuggets and other products, despite a public commitment to do so.

Richard Ellis, vice-president of McDonald's Restaurants of Canada, conceded in committee testimony that the company had failed to achieve its targets. New Democrat MP Pat Martin accused the fast-food chain of "poisoning" its customers with trans fats, which are known to raise blood cholesterol and increase risk of heart disease.

"It's the biggest public health risk since the war on tobacco," Martin said, after confronting a McDonald's spokesman during committee debate. "Another generation of children is being poisoned as we speak.

"We've got doctors with 10, 12-year-old patients presenting with high cholesterol. It's madness."

Trans fat is made when manufacturers add hydrogen to vegetable oil - a process called hydrogenation.

In September 2002 McDonald's U.S.A. announced that it would cut transfats in its fries 48 per cent by using improved cooking oil. A similar announcement was made in Canada.

In November 2003, Consumer Reports magazine tested the products and found that the fries were swimming in as much "bad fat" as ever.

"The truth is . . . we missed the goal and we missed the goal completely," Ellis said in an interview outside the committee room.

Asked why the goal had been missed, Ellis said: "We're a pretty big company and we serve three million people a day, and that's just in Canada. Our commitment remains the same as it was the day we made it. Our goal remains very clear."

He rejected Martin's suggestion that McDonald's is poisoning its customers.

"I quite honestly think that is a ridiculous and not very helpful statement to make. McDonald's is a consumer driven company and we're about choice, and we've made choice available to all of our customers, all of our consumers in Canada.

"We have always believed and continue to believe and will always believe that McDonald's food fits into a balanced varietal and moderate diet. A little bit of physical activity doesn't hurt by the way."

The Commons health committee is discussing ways to improve nutrition in the fast food industry. Martin has put forward a private member's bill that would require the virtual elimination of transfats.

The NDP MP said that consuming one gram of trans fat daily increases the risk of heart disease by 20 per cent. Consumer Reports says a McDonald's medium burger contains five grams of transfat.