It’s Official: NYC Votes to Require Calorie Counts in Restaurants
Just announced are some new rules to go into effect in restaurants in NYC. Read more after the jump.
The Board of Health today voted to require restaurant chains operating in New York City to prominently display calorie information on their menus and menu boards. The new regulation, which takes effect on March 31, 2008, applies to any New York City chain restaurant that has 15 or more outlets nationwide – about 10% of all New York City restaurants.
Providing customers with prominently displayed calorie information at the time of purchase will help guide informed and healthier food choices, an important step in addressing the obesity epidemic that now affects millions of New York City residents.
“Obesity and diabetes are the only major health problems that are getting worse in New York City,” said Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, New York City Health Commissioner. “Today, the Board of Health passed a regulation that will help New Yorkers make healthier choices about what to eat; living longer, healthier lives as a result.”
Calories Count
Chain restaurants serve food that has been clearly associated with excess calories and obesity, and studies show that people who eat fast food regularly consume more calories than those who do not.
Many chain restaurants already post calorie information on the Internet, in brochures, or on food wrappers or tray liners. Customers rarely see this information when they’re ordering food, and without it, people greatly underestimate how many calories are in a meal. Chain restaurants are able to feasibly and accurately post calorie information because they have highly standardized recipes and portions.
Given the lack of public knowledge about calories and portion sizes, this is favorable. It is unfortunate that it has taken governmental intrusion to bring it about. Restaurants should be proactive and forthcoming in giving patrons the truth about what they are eating. But, as CSPI pointss out, the restaurant industry must bear some responsibility for bringing on this intrusion.
Today’s vote comes as something of an embarrassment for the New York State Restaurant Association, whose bungled legal strategy set the stage for a broader regulation that now includes chains that presently make no nutrition information available to their customers, such as such as TGI Friday’s and Outback Steakhouse. Several chains, including Chipotle, Quiznos, Wendy’s, and White Castle had actually pulled nutrition information from websites or posters in an attempt to avoid complying with the city’s previous regulation. But now they will have to comply since they each have more than 15 units nationally.
Subway and Auntie Anne’s have been using menus with calories since last summer when New York City’s first menu labeling regulations were to take effect. Philadelphia, San Francisco, Maryland’s Montgomery County, New York’s Nassau and Westchester Counties, and Oregon’s Multnomah County, which includes Portland, are working on menu labeling proposals this year.