Menu Labeling Works

New York City is proof that menu labeling works. When New Yorkers go into a fast food restaurant, they now see a calorie count right alongside the price. A recent study finds that when people have calorie information at the point of purchase, more of them will choose healthier products.[1] Hide that information away in a nutritional brochure under the counter, or make people go to a website to find it, and most people will never see it.  

Shouldn’t we all have the right to know what we’re eating? Fast food corporations don’t think so. They went so far as to file a lawsuit against New York City, stating that this new law violates their free speech.[2] That case was defeated in court, but the industry is still fighting menu labeling. More recently, they filed industry-friendly federal legislation to cmpete with the comprehensive, national menu labeling proposed by public health advocates.[3]

In California, they’ve lobbied hard and spent huge sums of money to keep a similar measure that passed this year as industry-friendly as possible. In California, drive-thru menus are exempt from menu labeling, even though about 65 percent of all fast food is purchased at drive-thru windows.[4] Additionally, several local California ordinances, such as those in San Francisco and San Jose, have been pre-empted by the new state law.[5]

How did they do it? Check out our exposé of the fast food industry’s political interference to find out more about how they manipulate our public policy at the cost of our health and well-being. And visit the Center for Science in the Public Interest to find out more about menu labeling initiatives sweeping the country, from Philadelphia to Seattle.

1. S. Burton et al., “Attacking the obesity epidemic: The potential health benefits of providing nutrition information in restaurants,” American Journal of Public Health, 96:9 (2006): 1669-1675.

2. James Barron, “Restaurants Must Post Calories, Judge Affirms,” The New York Times (April 17, 2008) http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/17/nyregion/17calorie.html?scp=4&sq=menu+labeling&st=nyt (accessed February 12, 2009).

3. GovTrack.US. H.R. 5563--109th Congress (2006 (accessed February 12, 2009)): MEAL Act, GovTrack.us (database of federal legislation) http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h109-5563 .

4. Drive Thru Fact Sheet. Center for Science in the Public Interest. http://cspinet.org/new/pdf/drive_thru_fact_sheet.pdf (accessed February 12, 2009).

5. California State Senate, Bill SB 1420. DeSaulnier and Leno “An act to add Section 114094 to the Health and Safety Code, relating to food facilities,” (August 31, 2008), http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/07-08/bill/sen/sb_1401-1450/sb_1420_bill_20080903_enrolled.htmlwww.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/07-08/bill/sen/sb_1401-1450/sb_1420_bill_20080903_enrolled.html (accessed February 12, 2009).

Photo: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/07/18/fast-food-chains-in-nyc-p_n_113716.html