Thanks to a clause in the health care bill, we’ll now know a little more about what we’re eating when we’re dining out. The clause will force chain restaurants to place nutritional and caloric information on their menus.
Programs like these have already been implemented in California and New York, and now the changes are going national. Restaurants with over 20 locations will be required to give us the nutritional 411 on all menu items, except for daily specials.
Programs like these have already been implemented in California and New York, and now the changes are going national. Restaurants with over 20 locations will be required to give us the nutritional 411 on all menu items, except for daily specials.
"The only way to ensure consumers get the nutrition information they want and need is for the federal government to establish a uniform national nutrition standard that requires chain restaurants to provide consistent, detailed nutrition information in writing in their restaurants," said the National Restaurant Association in a news release last year.
With added costs and fears of declining sales, restaurant owners can’t be too happy about this new requirement. But with more states considering these changes, they had to see it coming.
These facts will probably come as a shock to most of us. It'll break my heart to know how fatty my favorite meal is...probably still won't make me turn it down though. A study released last year showed that only 15 percent of customers used the info of the menu. But it also showed that they bought 106 fewer calories than those who didn't have access to the information.
Hopefully these changes will push us to all make some healthier choices.
I agree with you that it is important to educate people about what's on the menu. Hopefully restaurants won't be too burdened by the cost of putting the calorie counts on the menus. Although, while this might aggravate a lot of companies, many, I hope, will embrace it since they are already promoting healthy choices .
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