Government
Chain restaurants back calorie-posting proposal
■ The Senate plan also would require chains to provide additional nutritional information to customers upon request.
By Doug Trapp — Posted June 26, 2009
- WITH THIS STORY:
- » Related content
Washington -- National health reform legislation in the Senate will include a provision requiring chain restaurants with 20 or more same-named outlets to post calorie counts on their menus or menu boards. The proposal has the support of the restaurant industry and several public health advocates.
Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee Chair Tom Harkin (D, Iowa), along with Sens. Tom Carper (D, Del.) and Lisa Murkowski (R, Alaska), announced the June 10 agreement between the National Restaurant Assn., the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Diabetes Assn., and others.
"The individual and societal costs of poor nutrition and diet-related chronic disease compel us to take concrete steps to fashion a society in which the healthy choice is the easy choice, and in which prevention always comes before treatment," Harkin said.
The proposal also would mandate that chain restaurants detail in writing -- upon request -- their menu items' levels of fat, fat calories, saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium, carbohydrates, sugars, fiber and protein. Companies that own 20 or more vending machines also must post calorie information for the items they sell.
National Restaurant Assn. President and CEO Dawn Sweeney said the organization recognized the need to provide consumers with consistent nutritional information. "This legislation would replace varying state and local ordinances with a national standard that empowers consumers to make choices that are best for themselves and their families." The association's members operate a combined total of more than 380,000 restaurants.
American Medical Association policy supports requiring restaurant chains with 10 or more outlets to post, at a minimum, calorie counts on their menus or menu boards. The AMA also urges restaurants to improve the nutritional value of their offerings.
Harkin said the agreement is a compromise between the Menu Education and Labeling Act he authored and the Labeling Education and Nutrition Act of 2009 by Carper.
