New York Restaurants Must Post Calorie Counts

by Jarrett Martineau | January 22, 2008 at 05:00 pm

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After banning transfats and smoking from New York city bars and restaurants, posting menu nutrition information doesn't seem like it should cause such a huge fuss, but it is being resisted by the fast food industry.

Frankly, providing nutritional information to consumers will be of great "benefit to consumers" in that it will allow them to make better-educated choices about the food they are eating. And that is certainly something that the fast-food industry, which relies so heavily on pulling the 'nutritional wool' over customers' eyes, should fear.

New York again sought to force fast food chains to display calorie counts on their menu boards on Tuesday after a federal judge quashed a similar proposal last year.

The rule affects restaurants with 15 or more locations nationwide such as fast-food chains Burger King, McDonald's and Wendy's but also casual dining chains such as Ruby Tuesday and IHOP Corp's Applebee's.

The city believes the new rule will be allowed because it subjects all restaurants with more than 15 locations to the same requirement while its previous rule only affected restaurants that were following voluntary federal nutritional labeling guidelines.

The Board of Health adopted the regulation in an attempt to combat obesity. The same board banned artery-clogging trans-fats from New York City restaurants in 2006 and smoking in bars and restaurants in 2003.

A regulation on posting calorie counts was adopted by the city in 2006 but thrown out by a federal judge in September because it overstepped federal guidelines on nutrition labeling.

"Obesity is the only major health problem in the country and in New York City that is getting worse rapidly," New York City Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden said.

The fast food industry opposes the measure, which is due to take effect on March 31, on the grounds it would overly complicate menus and provide little benefit to consumers.