Nutritional Information – Why isn’t it on our restaurant menus?

Since the 1990s, we have had a plethora of nutritional information available to us on most grocery items.[1]  For those of us who are watching what we eat, it is helpful in figuring out how much salt, fat or sugar a product contains.  

However, an entire segment of the food industry was left out of this labeling – restaurants. Corporations like McDonald’s have worked hard to make sure they are exempt from having to tell us just how unhealthy their food actually is. When you go out to eat, it is nearly impossible to know how many calories your food contains. Even nutrition professionals often underestimate how many calories, fat and salt a restaurant menu item contains.[2]

The Center for Science in the Public Interest is addressing this deficiency in our nutritional information by helping cities and states from California to New York to pass their own menu labeling laws. These laws require restaurants to post calorie information on fast food menu boards.  Studies, such as a 2006 study published in the American Journal of Public Health, have shown this labeling could have a significant impact on what the public chooses to eat when they eat out.[3][4] The fast food industry, terrified that we will stop buying their products once we know how truly unhealthy they are, is fighting these regulations tooth and nail.

1. Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 1990. H.R.3562. http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/F?c101:5:./temp/~c1010IrpsS:e0: (accessed February 11, 2009).

2. J. Backstrand,  et al., “Fat Chance,” Washington, DC: Center for Science in the Public Interest, 1997.

3. 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.

4. MT Bassett et al. “Purchasing behavior and calorie information at fast-food chains in New York City 2007,” American Journal of Public Health, 98:8 (2008):1-3.

Photo: http://flickr.com/photos/gonzalodiego/2257259964/