MEAL Act: Dems Push To Get Calorie Counts On Menus

The Washington Post:

Sen.Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Rep. Rosa DeLauro(D-Conn.) are reintroducing the aptly-named MEAL Act. "MEAL" stands -- somewhat awkwardly -- for Menu Education And Labeling. That is to say, it stands for calorie counts. Right there on the menu. Next to your food. So you know. Harkin and DeLauro want to see restaurants with more than 20 locations displaying the total calories, sodium, saturated and trans fats, and carbohydrates of each dish right next to its name on the menu. Or, as the case may be, the menu board.

Read the whole story: The Washington Post

Comments

[Mnemanth]

Yes, there is a point where government regulation is not required. There's a point where people need to accept responsibility for their own lives- something we are so totally lacking in our society.
If you don't know that the big greasy cheese and bacon burger you're about to consume isn't good for you, you deserve the heart attack you know you have coming.

[tbone99]

having knowledge allows you to accept responsibility.

Ignorance insures that you avoid it.

[SaquaroSue]

Having knowledge takes away the last excuse for eating rubbish. If they KNOW they are eating 1000+ calories a meal, they can no longer pretend it is "a metabolism" problem or say "I don't eat that much, I don't understand why I can't lose weight." They'd have to take REAL responsibility for their condition, instead of just giving responsibility lip service.

[RightWingMarine]

When politicians create additional govt regulations to protect us from ourselves you can bet that what is in our best interests did not factor into the drafting of the legislation. What industry stands to benefit from this legislation?

This bill would force resturants to post additional info on the menus. Is there currently legislation that prohibits this? If there were customers demanding this do we believe that business would fail to respond? Historically when the national mood shifted to healthier fare resturants responded. Burger joints began offering chicken and salad, KFC just had a big roll-out of grilled chicken. Any resturant that does not move with the demand of their customers will soon find themselves out of business.

As an adult I have the ability and responsibility to find out how healthy my meal is and I don't need Mommy Govt coming in to the rescue. No one should be surprised to discover that frenchfries covered in cheese then dipped in ranch dressing is not heart healthy. What will putting the caloric level on the menu do? People that are trying to lose weight won't order that dish anyway and those of us that aren't concerned don't care. This will just put an additional cost on the resturant business to find out what how many calories the dishes have and then to reprint the menu or change the menu board.

[SaquaroSue]

Coming from someone who owned a restaurant for many years, this is not a huge burden. Any decent recipe program that a restaurant is using to create, store, and scale its recipes already calculates the most common nutritional information for dishes, including calories. It isn't some arcane process requiring a laboratory or any great expense. Heck, even mom and pop can do the same with a basic cookbook program for under $100.

And most restaurants replace their menus at least once or twice a year, even if nothing on the menu changes. Menus aren't some durable good you buy once and never again. With constant use, menus do not last that long. I just don't see how adding this information at the next printing is a huge burden.

I'm still not understanding why something as simple as providing information is considered bad. Use it, don't use it, ignore it, whatever. What is all this crap about mommy government? Do you like having ingredient labels on your groceries? This information is not provided voluntarily, mommy government has to make industries stop hiding what was in your food. Information should be there so people have the ability to make choices. The ability to make informed choices. What reasonable person can think information and choice is a bad idea?

[RightWingMarine]

private industry will take these actions if customers demand it. It is true that at one time food producers did not have to label what they put in the tins and some put in noxious items. But some producers wanting to garner customer loyalty did include labels most notably the Heinz company when they took the groundbreaking step of bottleing their products in clear glass bottles.
In the absence of govt regulation private certifcation agencies would spring into being. Underwriters Limited is a perfect example.
There is far from a consensus as to what causes weight gain. There is the calorie theory but there is also the Atkins diet which completely discounts calories and there are plenty of others and it would be impossible to list them all on any menu.
This seems to be a step towards another govt regulation restricting the number of calories in any dish in the interests of keeping Americans healthy.

[wndrwrthg]

I can see restaurants and businesses doing this as a courtesy, but to legislate it I believe is ill conceived.

[SaquaroSue]

Was legislating that food manufacurers put ingredient labels on the food you buy at the grocery ill conceived? It wasn't done voluntarily, or as a courtesy. Requiring companies to be right out in the open and honest about their products is not abuse.

[jeliz]

I mostly eat a home, but when I go out I do not want to know how many calories I'm eating. It's supposed to be a treat, not a torment. Why don't we try regulating the things that need it instead of ruining a night out with a calorie count. The government surely must have something better to do with their time.

[anoise]

I want to know how many calories I'm eating. You dont have to look or change the way you eat, but I want that information to make my choice.

[d00derman]

I've been wanting this for years, and this good time and money spent by the government. Lowering obesity in the country will lower health costs.

[bpress]

I'm in favor of full disclosure of ingredients and any modified ingredients. Nutrition labeling at the store lets us avoid trans-fat, high fructose corn syrup, milk from cattle given shots of bovine growth hormone, genetically modified corn and soy products, poultry and eggs that are not free range, but it is almost impossible to know any of this in restaurant foods. The nutrition labeling for restaurant foods will not go far enough. We would know the calories, fat content and some basic nutrition, but not the actual contents. Excess calories are not good for us, but the manufactured products in many of our foods hold hazards also.

[classicalgeek]

I'm strongly in favour of disclosure. Once they started labelling trans fats I was able to cut them almost completely out of my diet. People who are being responsible for their weight by following diets cannot manage without calorie or carbohydrate counts. Everyone gets trapped some time without food from home.

[AZterritory]

Like there isn't an American human alive that doesn't know the cheeseburger and fries might have a tad more calories than the veggie sub? Pigs are pigs, but what is so annoying is that these lard@$$es suck health care at a disproportionate rate while those who try to be healthier pay for their sloth.

[RightWingMarine]

then it would seem that the simplest and best solution would be that each person pays for their own healthcare. Those that choose to live a healthy lifestyle would have lower healthcare costs and those that choose to live a more sedentary lifestyle would pay more and the only time anyone would pay for someone else's healthcare costs would be when they chose to.

[SaquaroSue]

Why are people offended by the idea of being presented with information? Isn't knoweldge and public, easy to access information a GOOD thing?

You can use it as you see fit, don't use it, ignore it, whatever. No one is snatching the double heart attack on a bun with a side of deep fried diabetes from your pudgy little paws, they are just making sure you are making your choices in an informed way instead of from vague, hard to find, or lacking information.

[whohortonehears2]

fries, where the h*ll are the fries....

[tbone99]

I just watched a show called half ton mom and half tom dad - in other words people who weigh around 1000 lbs. These people cannot even get out of bed and there are 200,000 such people in the U.S like this.
Fast food is a BIG part of their lives- they eat approx 30,000 calories a day!!!

The sad thing is the show was really pushing gastric bypass even though when put in a controlled enviroment they could lose 100 lbs a month.
And there was absolutely NO EFFORT made on educating their families eating habits

[Grunty1]

I'm for this legislation, but not for this reason. These people have to know that eating the equivalent of a Big Mac every HOUR for 24 hours a day is not healthy.

[kapalabhati]

Word, Steve. (Love your name; Portrait is probably my favorite book of all time, if I could only get through it again!)

[BlackJAC]

They already have the nutritional info posted on the wall, so this seems a tad redundant.

[anoise]

No, they don't always. I've had to ask and employees cant find it, tell me to look online...I want to order something NOW not go home and study the info on my computer, then come back to eat.

[luvangelHussein330]

All this did was make me want a cheese burger.... which is going to make eating my salud hard today...

[kapalabhati]

I'm a lifelong Democrat. This is ridiculous and plays into the nanny state, hypebolic criticism of the Republicans. Air bags, seat belts, motorcycle helmets, bicycle helmets, gun permits, etc. Check, OK. Calorie counts on the menu? This takes it too far. Eat less, exercise more, educate yourself AND YOUR KIDS about smart food choices, stay healthy.

[tbone99]

they could make better progress fighting obesity by decreasing car use

[HWNA]

Not sure why "Meal Education And Labeling" is considered awkward.

[BlackJAC]

It's RAS Syndrome, where RAS stands for "Redundant Acronym Syndrome."