Sometime in the next 5 days, the Supreme Court is going to deliver its opinion(s) on the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or what is commonly referred to as PPACA or health care reform. While the opinions will be focused on the arguments surrounding the individual mandate, severability and some Medicaid issues, I’m hoping that some of the lesser known clauses are not dismantled or slashed in the process. For instance, health care reform created funding for improved graduate medical education and put some pretty strict rules in place regarding menu labeling.
The menu labeling requirement (found in section 4205 of PPACA) basically says that nutrition information such as calories, protein content and amount of total fat must be placed directly on menus and menu boards of restaurants, retail food establishments, and vending machine operations that are part of chains with 20 or more locations.
Even better (or worse?) they need to provide you with the information for menu items that can be difficult to calculate, such as a combo meal with numerous choices or a pizza with multiple toppings. There are exceptions of course, for seasonal items (on a menu for less than 60 days), daily specials and custom orders. I guess that means the Shamrock Shake info won’t be making it to the menu board.
There are not exceptions for buffets (they still need to tell you how many fat grams are in that kung pao chicken), cafeterias, or drive through menus. There will, however, probably be exceptions for establishments where food sales are less than 50% of revenue, such as airports or movie theatres.
Restaurants and vending machine operators have been given opportunities to pose questions and comments to the FDA in the years since PPACA was enacted, in order to best discuss how to provide this information without costing restaurants an exorbitant amount of money. Rest assured, menu changes are still expensive, but as you can guess there was a lot of discussion surrounding the implementation of nutrition information for vending machines, as the information has to be provided prior to purchase, not after.
So now what? On the government’s side the FDA has issued guidance documents to the industry on how to implement these new requirements, and there have been some proposed rules, which will in theory be amended as final rules sometime in the future. On the retail side, things are more complicated.
Some chain restaurants implemented the rules early: you can’t go to Panera without being told exactly how bad that cinnamon crunch bagel is. The City of Philadelphia has petitioned the FDA for an exemption from the rules, arguing that their city ordinance on the topic is largely in line with the federal requirements, but has a few more requirements and was put into place to battle the city’s overwhelmingly poor health statistics in comparison to other large metropolitan areas.
And now national pizza chains have come together to fight the rules. They claims that since 90% of their orders come over the phone and online, they shouldn’t be forced to take on the cost of updating their in-store menus.
How do you feel about menu labeling? Would nutrition information make you think twice before you order, or would you ignore it in order to eat what you want? I know that the realization that my favorite entree at Chili’s (my chain restaurant of choice) is worth more than an entire day’s calorie allotment would definitely encourage me to order something lighter, but others view it as superflous or “Big Brother” style information. Cities and counties that already have menu labeling requirements on a more local level have reported mixed success with the results.
What do you think?
Daisy is a lawyer married to a lawyer (insert lawyer jokes here) living in a small condo in a big city with a new baby and beagle. She breaks up the legal-speak by blogging about life in Chicago, which is filled with escapades of urban living. In the summer she enjoys patio dining and in the winter wonders what she was thinking when she moved here. You can read more from Daisy on her blog, Just Daisy.
image via cspinet
Nutritionam information has been required in California for a while now. Personally, I love it. Seeing the amount of calories a dish contains absolutely makes me rethink my choices…and I view that as a good thing. Sure, there are times I wish I didnt know jusf how many calorirs my dessert was, but, as we all know, many Americans face health concerns, so I think anything that helps the general public more aware of what they’re fueling their body with can only help.
I too live in CA and have enjoyed seeing calorie content on the menus. I think, though, that they will also have to put fat and protein info up? I’ve only seen calories on menu boards, unless you ask for a detailed nutritional info pamphlet.
I’ve made different selections after reading posted calorie content. I appreciate the help in making better choices for myself. As long as no one is forcing you to make choice “B” instead of choice “A”, I don’t understand why any consumer could complain.
Yes, I do think you’re right regarding only putting calories on there, and I love the point you made about no one forcing anyone to make a certain choice. At least we will now be making informed choices.
Holy crap, typos! I don’t know how to turn autocorrect on on my new phone!
I LOVE the idea
Here in the UK we have a few restaurants that provide calories on the menu, and although I may not be able to guage fat/protein etc. – Getting the overall idea of calories really helps me choose better, and makes me stay within my daily calorie limit, whilst still being able to eat out with friends and family 
I don’t feel like i’m missing out, nor feel like I’m ruining my healthy eating
I don’t know, here in WA we’ve had them for a while and while yes – it’s good to have the information, it doesn’t really change my mind on what I’m going to order. If it’s a high calorie item, I don’t eat it all the time.
But then again, a lot of people are uninformed. If it makes them stop and think, I guess that’s a good thing.
I love the idea because I’m diabetic and need to see how many carbs are in things in restaurants — a lot of restaurants won’t show you a breakdown of nutrition facts. They SAY they don’t exist, but I don’t much believe that.
I this this is a great idea! Seeing a calorie count will definitely make me re-think my decisions and will help me to make healthier decisions more often. It’s not like it’s going to prevent people from getting what they want, it will just make them more informed which I don’t think is a bad thing.
I love calorie counts on menus! Your Panera example hit super close to home– I go there so often and it’s nice to see that what might seem like a simple sandwich is full of calories somehow! I try to stick to “simple” foods, like the Sierra Turkey (I think) which is just bread, lettuce, tomato, and turkey. I could probably make that at home, but Panera soup is also delicious and their bread is to die for.
Speaking of calories, can someone tell me how The Cheesecake Factory manages to pack so many calories in their meals?! I know their portion sizes are huge, but SERIOUSLY?!
I’m a total supporter of calories and nutrition info on menus. I live in Texas (where we will be ashamed of our menus once this happens!), and saw this while traveling to NY on business. It really helped me to make better decisions. Ok, so I still had a 5 Guys burger, but I skipped the fries, and had water instead of a soda (even diet). It really helps me with moderation and making decisions. I hope this piece is either kept, or reinstated via another piece of legislation after the SC hands down their decision.
Personally, I don’t care if it’s on the menu/every printed menu in the place, but every restaurant should make it available SOMEWHERE – for me, the best place is on their website. I always look up nutritional info before I go out to eat (that doesn’t mean I always make the best choice, but at the very least I want to know how much damage I’m actually doing when I order that quesadillas).
It’s a personal pet peeve of mine when restaurants don’t make it available anywhere, because it’s not like it’s difficult to figure out (unless it’s frankenfood). There’s an Italian restaurant that I like to frequent, which is part of a small chain in my part of the country, and it infuriates me that they won’t list any nutritional information on their website. Instead, it says, “Nutritional information on food is generally reserved for fast food restaurants and for packaged foods, something that we at ***** are most definitely not! Rest assured that ***** aims to use only the freshest organic local produce and uses semolina flour in all our regular pasta and pizza, and 100% whole durum flour in our wholegrain pasta.” Yeah, I KNOW that already – that’s why I like to eat here! But I need to know how many calories and carbs are in the Shrimp Scampi! So I like the fact that this would force a lot of restaurants to make that available.
In general, I think it’s a good idea in terms of public awareness, but I don’t know how many people will actually change their eating habits if they see the calorie count displayed – it they’re already eating a poor diet, they’re probably not aware of what a healthy-level calorie intake is. This is a good tool, but it needs to be combined with things like education, improved access to whole/healthy foods in low-income areas/food deserts, and a movement away from grain/corn subsidies (which are used to produce junk food) towards subsidies for fruit and vegetables. We need to move toward healthier food in the schools and in people’s homes, so that consumers will be more likely to choose healthy options outside the home.
My mother didn’t know much (if anything about nutrition), and we were poor enough that we couldn’t afford fresh veggies and fruit. Most of our veggies were canned, as was the fruit we ate. Occasionally, if my mom could get a good deal at a farmer’s market we would have fresh, and she would can or preserve most of the fruit and freeze veggies for winter. Even so, it wasn’t enough to last, and the less-healthy foods were cheaper and what we could afford.
As a result, I never learned how to make good nutritional choices, and I am paying for it now; it is incredibly difficult to unlearn bad habits we learn in our youth. Just putting calorie counts on a menu won’t remedy ingrained bad habits.
Comments on this entry are closed.