Court Rejects Challenge To NYC Menu Rule

New Law Requires Some Restaurants To Post Calories Next To Food Items

(AP)  A federal judge upheld a New York City regulation Wednesday requiring calories to be posted on the menu boards of some chain restaurants, saying the rule was a reasonable approach to health officials' goal of reducing obesity.

In doing so, the judge turned back a challenge from the New York State Restaurant Association, a voice for the food service industry.

"It seems reasonable to expect that some consumers will use the information disclosed ... to select lower calorie meals ... and these choices will lead to a lower incidence of obesity," U.S. District Judge Richard Holwell said.

The city's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene believes the regulation will prevent 130,000 New Yorkers from becoming obese and will stop another 30,000 from developing diabetes over the next five years.

"We just want people to have the information available to them to make healthful decisions," said health department spokeswoman Jessica Scaperotti.

The new law, which takes effect next Monday, applies to restaurants with more than 15 outlets across the country. That includes fast-food places like McDonald's and such sit-down chains as Olive Garden and T.G.I. Friday's.

The city Board of Health voted unanimously in February to approve the regulation, a new version of a rule that had been struck down by a judge last year after a challenge from the restaurant association.

"We don't object to people doing it voluntarily," restaurant association spokesman Chuck Hunt said Wednesday. "Our problem was the government agency forcing them to do it. We think restaurants should be able to determine from their customers how they want to get the information."

Some restaurants including Starbucks and Chipotle have already started to post calories on menus; the rest will have five days to comply with the law. The health department said it will not start fining restaurants until June 3.

New York City, which banned trans-fat-laden cooking oils from all restaurants last year, is believed to be the first U.S. city to enact a regulation requiring calories on menus.

Since then, California lawmakers and those in King County in Washington, which includes Seattle, have considered similar bills.

[rf35]

I''d like to see calories on the menu. While one or two places have a flier or something listing the calories, most have you go online for nutrition info. I tried finding the info a while back for one restaurant...the web site was not helpful in finding the calorie chart, then the chart was deliberately hard to read and came up as one huge page that you had to scroll around on to get to a particular item. It included calories, fat content, sodium, etc, along with a disclaimer saying something to the effect that all values were approximate because each item is prepared individually. Those value estimates were almost certainly on the low end of the probability scale. Point is, I think that if people see the calories staring them in the face, many will make smarter choices about what they eat. I hope this becomes the standard in America so every city, county, and state doesn%u2019t have to enact their own laws.

[simpsonman19]

I think this is a good idea, but I think it should be extended to all restaurants. Granted people don''t eat at sit down places as often, but the meals are often more unhealthy than those at a fast food place because of the oversized portions and high fat content foods/sauces used in the preparation. Also I would think that a greater percentage of people order dessert at a sit down place than McDonalds, so there''s another 500 calories or so.

[civiltongue]

Come on, folks - if all of the advertising and postings against smoking or driving under the influence haven''t accomplished their noble goals, why in the world would the presence of the calorie content for a particular meal prompt the same people to eat healthily? Furthermore, calorie content is directly related to portion size - is that serving of mashed potatoes 3, 4 or 5 ounces? - and does the calorie count include the gravy? And how much fat-laden gravy is there? Finally, the procedure for the determination of calorie content is expensive - this clearly is an example of an over-zealous regulator who has too much time on his hands.

[rushman71]

civiltongue: I agree with you. If the chain restaurants are trying to focus more on doing away with trans fats and trying to get people to eat more healthy, why are they still advertising meals like the Burger King Baconator (two patties, a lot of cheese, 6 slices of bacon). Yes, it is good to eat, but all in all, isn''t the amount in that meal alone worth the whole day. I don''t care how these big corporations are "trying" to be more healthy minded towards us consumers. Honestly, eating healthy food is not what they want to serve you. At McDonalds, a Big Mac is a Big Serving. If McD''s wants to serve you more healthy food, they need to take away the Big Mac, and serve you just the Mac!!!