The New York City Department of Health has made another move to force fast food purveyors to provide honest health information up front.
After an earlier set of rules was struck down by a federal judge, the DoH regrouped and yesterday passed new provisions that require any chain operating at least 15 outlets nationwide to put calorie counts on menus and anywhere else customers might pick their food from.
These new regulations are being put in place to help combat the ongoing obesity epidemic. As the notice of adoption (PDF) points out, in "New York City, obesity prevalence has increased by more than 70% in the past decade. More than half (54%) of New York City adults are overweight or obese, and 1 in every 5 adults is obese; 43% of elementary school children are overweight or obese."
The DoH argues that the fight against fat needs to fall squarely on establishments as even trained professionals often have trouble estimating caloric content. A recent poll found that only 11% of adults could correctly identify which of the four breakfast choices from Denny’s Restaurants had the fewest calories and which of the four menu items from McDonald’s had the most calories.
Of course, many restaurants aren't happy about the new rules (about 10% of the city's restaurants will be affected). Displaying nutritional information may be embarrassing for some chains (Burger King, for instance, may not like explaining why their cheeseburger has only 330 calories while the Whopper Junior with cheese has 410 calories and the Triple Whopper with cheese has 1,230). The DoH is hoping that rather than risk humiliation, many chains will retool or even drop menu items.
Though it is unlikely that this fight is over, assuming the new provisions aren't challenged again by a group like the New York State Restaurant Association, which sued the last time, they are set to go into effect March 31.