Should restaurants be required to display nutrition information?
In this morning’s Oregonian, the front page includes an article on a proposal to require chain restaurants to display key nutritional information on their menus and menu boards (”Plan would let diners count calories on menu“). Portland of course is not the first major city to consider the idea publicly, but given the progressive nature of the political scene here, it would not be surprising if the rule was approved.
According to the proposal, this would not affect small businesses. Here is a summary, as quoted from the Multnomah County Health Department’s information site:
PROPOSED POLICY
1. Applies only to major chain restaurants with at least 15 nation-wide outlets.
·Small businesses are exempt to avoid undue financial burden.
·About half large chains already have nutritional analysis done for their menu items.
·Most food prepared in chains is standardized in terms of ingredients, cooking instructions,
and portion sizes.
2. Applies only to standard food items on the menu for at least 60 days.
·To leave ample room for culinary innovation.
·To minimize the need for frequent re-printing of menus.
3. Requires disclosure of calories, saturated fat, trans fat, sodium, and
carbohydrates.
·Limited to five nutrition factors to minimize confusion by consumers
4. Point-of-purchase decision-making.
·Nutrition information easily accessible on the menus and menu boards.
·Nutrition information as prominent as pricing information.
5. Disclaimer for nutrient content variation.
·To offer some protection to restaurants.
·To provide lee-way for slight variations in overall serving size or quantity of ingredients.
6. The Health Department will offer technical assistance to restaurants.
[…]
This reminds me of a discussion we recently had on Iowa Avenue, where a lot of folks had some serious concerns over the idea (42 comments, which may be a record there), while I think it’s fair to say that the majority of readers were in favor of the idea (Iowa Ave. readers, correct me if I’m wrong there - it was just my impression).
According to today’s article, the Oregon Restaurant Association (ORA) is of course lobbying heavily against it. Their reasoning? Giving more information to consumers will only confuse them.
Regardless of the spin surrounding “healthy options” on menus, this in my opinion is an Orwellian insult to their customers, and I’m amazed that more consumers don’t see it (or maybe we are all just sheep after all, as the ORA suggests). For the record, ORA, I for one am not confused when I see caloric information on the nutrition sheet that you have to ask for at McDonalds (at least, last I checked, years ago). If the staff can find the sheet buried somewhere behind the ketchup boxes, I can read it without going into a information overload seizure.
What’s more, although I’ve been working hard to avoid fast food (see my article here, “20 tactics to kill the fast food habit“), I know that if I were to go into the local Carl’s Jr. and see that the chili-cheese fries had “1410 calories” as the article pointed out - I KNOW it would make me think twice, and likely convince me to make a better choice. Without that information, I might reason, “well how bad can it be?” I would have guessed maybe half that number, and been significantly wrong.
But according to the restaurant lobby, I would be overwhelmed and confused by SO MUCH information.
C’mon.
It should be noted, too, that liability for the information is being completely released from restaurants with this measure (though I am sure a lawyer may be able to find an exception, as is their duty). The county seems to be going the extra mile to relieve restaurants of as much burden as possible, since they are offering to assist with caloric measurement (or so my interpretation of that statement goes).
My opinion is that yes, chains of 15 nationwide restaurants or more should be required to display the information. As long as it does not impact small business, I am all for it.
What do you think? Should chain restaurants of 15 outlets or more be required to display nutritional information, with the help of the county?
Related posts:
If I know something is extremely high calory then I just can’t enjoy it anymore. However, if I suspect it may be but don’t know for sure then I still can. Ignorance is bliss.
So this would work for me. Having said that I haven’t been in a fast food chain store in over a year so it wouldn’t affect me anyway.
I think giving more information to consumers is a good idea for the consumers but a bad idea for the businesses.
I am in the same boat. One thing the article points out is it would affect “nicer” restaurants as well, which I still do visit from time to time. My taste preference is smaller, locally owned restaurants generally, but I do go to larger nice places that are national chains on occasion.
Thanks for the comment!
Well, actually for a lot of the major food chains you CAN get that information. I did a post about a new website that does that service:
http://antiagingnutritionnews.com/blog/148/fun-with-fast-food/
They cover not only fast food but some of the bigger chain restaurants, too.
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!
The trouble is, now those operating the counter can see how many calories are in the foods, and start policing those who buy it. I’ve heard many stories of people who go into a restaurant after a hard day, just wanting something to eat, and getting lectured by the counter folk.
I’d prefer it if the information was made to be available on pamphlets and on the website. That way, it wouldn’t just have to talk about calories, but also about gluten, dairy, etc.
It forces the knowledge upon people who don’t want it. If I want fast food, I’ll go to a fast food place to eat it - screw the number of calories that are in it, I don’t want to be told. Yet if restaurants go down this track, the information is shoved down the throat of the people who didn’t ask for it.
Knowledge is power. So, I say yes. So many Americans are just unaware of the calorie content in their food. I was recently in NYC where this is law and honestly it wasn’t confusing to read. Right under the menu option would be just a few numbers that told a big story. You could ignore them if you wanted honestly; you could skim over them. But in a number of places I’d never been (while traveling I didn’t have time to look on their website for nutrition info), handy the info right there was handy.
Plus, maybe this will help the chains to add more healthy dishes to their menus!
@Marshmallow - that’s a good point. For me the balancing factor to the argument is I’ve had this happen to me without the person having the actual information, so to me, if it’s going to happen anyway, better to let me be informed at a glance. The problem with pamphlets and web-only is as Supersize Me demonstrated, those pamphlets are easily (or conveniently) lost by poorly trained workers, whereas the menu board is always available.
I think the better course of action as far as offensive policing is concerned is to call the person on it immediately, as in, “Excuse me? Are you really risking your job to give me crap about my choices?” loud enough to get the manager’s attention. Believe me, I avoid conflict to a fault, but I think that withholding information is the wrong tack. They should be called onto the carpet. But that is my “angry white male” side shining through I am sure - and it is a heck of a lot easier to write that in a blog comment than it is to remember to say it in the moment.
So yeah, you’ve got a good point.
@FBG: I’ve heard this as well from NY. And I think as a stereotype, if there is anywhere in this country that folks are not going to put up with a lot of crap, it’s NY.
I’m totally in favor of having the information right there on the menu! As Metroknow points out, pamphlets aren’t always available. Further, it’s easy enough to just ignore that extra info if desired. I’ve never yet had counter help or a waitress call me on my food choices, EVER.
Where I could see some people not liking it is in the instance where you are dining with friends, so essentially, all your friends could also see your calorie choices, so to speak. Even so, most friends probably would not call you on it. A little subtle social pressure to make better choices isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
I try to stay out of the fast food places for the most part, but I still occasionally frequent larger chains when on the road and I want to know. I can still eat a larger calorie meal if I feel I want to, but if I prefer to eat modestly, I am armed with the knowledge to make that more possible.
At the same time, I live in a location where most of the restaurants ARE NOT big chains, so there, I do the best I can, and I’ve learned it’s A-OK to ask for substitutes in many instances. Most places won’t mind giving you extra veggies instead of a potato/bread/starch.
I’m going to come to this point from a slightly different angle if that’s okay.
I have a slight visual impairment, it doesn’t usually effect me but one way in which it does is when it comes to reading menu boards at fast food chains. I know for a fact that if nutrition information was displayed on those boards, I wouldn’t have a chance of being able to read it.
I’m not adverse to the idea in principle, if the design is good it will work.
I avoid ordering from any place that displays menus on lit up boards behind the counter anyway because I can’t read the prices most of the time; adding more numbers would make it imposable.
Wow some great comments here. Thanks as always, Cynthia, for relaying your thoughts! And Gabrielle, thank you too - that is a perspective that isn’t often taken into consideration, but should be. Thanks again.
One thing I thought I should add that has an impact in my opinion: In Multnomah county, according to the site, nearly 2/3 of all adult residents of the county are overweight or obese. Two-thirds is exceptionally high I would guess, so measures like this make even more sense. Education is the key to freedom of choice. Otherwise you are simply subject to marketing’s guidance - hardly the bastion of looking out for what’s best for people.
I think this is a move in the right direction. The main concern I have always had, is making sure it is not too complicated. Make sure the information presented is not too much. Those categories seem good. I am not too sure about the sodium and carbs, because not enough people know what you should intake sodium wise, and carbs are focused on way too much. The main thing we need to work for is elimination of trans fats, or at the very least, trans fats always listed next to menu items.
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 awesome resource GiGi. I had not seen that site before.
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!
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!
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?”
@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.
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.
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.
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.