Comments on: Should restaurants be required to display nutrition information?

By: Gordon

Gordon — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 15:01:44 +0000

I think the only way to be truly healthy is to not eat at restaurants at all. It would be nice to know more about the food that your ordering. .-= Gordon´s last blog ..Adrenal fatigue =-.

By: John

John — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 13:05:13 +0000

Hey, lots of good information given here. Will be back for sure. Keep up the good work site owner. food

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By: Remona Sue

Remona Sue — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 23:30:41 +0000

This whole issue of both restaurants (chains or not!) AND store deli’s not providing info is really making me crazy! I WILL NOT eat any foods whose calorie & fat types are not given so, I cannot eat out for the most part! The foods they purchase to prepare their foods and the general nutrition info for produce etc are easily (and free) available to them and it would take little effort on the parts of restaurants, deli’s and any other biz that serves prepared foods to calculate the nutritional contents of their foods. I’m no expert and I do it at home for my own recipes all the time. I’ll do the calculations for them for free for any deli in Portland if they give me a ring!!!
I also think that if they have to give the info they will become more responsible in the ingredients they use to make their foods!!! I like convenience and I like eating out…why do I have to give that up to be able to know I’m eating healthy?
I think we need a strong federal law that says if you serve food-any food (or supplement for that matter) then you have to provide nutrition information.

By: Cynthia

Cynthia — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 16:08:03 +0000

I’m pretty sure that when Morgan Spurlock did the “Supersize Me” thing… he found that more often than not, the actual calorie counts exceeded whatever was posted in the pamphlets. But, the food industry pretty well has to be allowed some variance. If you have every Subway (or other fast food) employee weighing out the veggies, cheese, whatnot on a gram scale, you’re gonna have long lines and fast food wouldn’t be very fast. Likewise for better restaurants, face it, not every chicken breast is exactly the same size/weight. The human factor is always going to be there in the kitchen.

For that reason, even when information is posted, I don’t think anyone should take it blindly as verbatim. We should all allow for that variance factor and assume we are eating more calories than posted. Even so, having the information will be useful and it may, just may, help us see some more healthy choices made available.

By: Lisa Newton

Lisa Newton — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 05:50:30 +0000

I would tend to agree, but as someone who has worked in the food industry, it’s very difficult to give exact calorie numbers, especially if the customer makes changes.

For example, if a customer askes for extra mayo, there goes the calorie numbers. Or on the other side, if the customer asks for extra tomatoes, the calorie number will increase slightly but the fat content will decrease.

The food industry isn’t an easy one to pin down to one number.

By: Metroknow

Metroknow — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 05:34:04 +0000

@Lisa: Hi Lisa! You know I found a similar lack of information on certain products. I think what is more alarming is the regulations allow for a 20% variance without penalty. That is huge for those who have real medical concerns about the quality and content of their food.

By: Lisa Newton

Lisa Newton — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 04:26:53 +0000

When I was doing some research for another blog post related to this topic, I was surprised to discover that a few restaurants don’t even have their nutritional information on their websites. I guess I assumed that in this day and age, all major restaurants would at least provide that information. It begs the question, “What are they afraid of?”

By: Willie

Willie — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 20:12:36 +0000

Absolutely I think it should be out in the open! I don\’t prepare any meal at home without first knowing what it is I am serving my family! I would want to know what what my family is consuming when we eat out. I understand the reluctance of the ORA. They would probably experience some loss of income if people knew what they were really eating, but they could all compensate for it by also offering better, healthier choices. For those chains that don\’t want to offer better choices, is in my opinion, not keeping up with the times. More people ARE aware of poor and good food choices. As for the ORA thinking they are just going to confuse us with nutritional information, Puhlease!!! They are insulting the public that gives them their lively hood!

By: Zidan Fedder

Zidan Fedder — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 19:38:10 +0000

I thought it was pretty cool – you can actually be in the restaurant and text the menu item in your phone and they’ll send you back the nutritional information AND suggest a healthier menu item from that menu! People need to be more responsible for their own health, yes, but people are more able to do so if they know more about the subject. As they say in School House Rock, “Knowledge is Power!”
Thanks for the comment!