Statement: Response to the National Menu Labeling Legislation

By Judy Grant, Director of Value [the] Meal campaign

The Senate has brokered a compromise on a national menu labeling bill that would put calorie counts on fast food menu boards, drive-through windows and printed menus for every chain restaurant with more than 20 locations. The bill has been added to Senator Kennedy's version of the Affordable Health Choices Act, so it is now up to Congress to make sure it stays in as negotiations over health care reform continue; and to make sure omnibus health care reform passes.

Interestingly, unlike many of the local menu labeling bills, this version requires calorie counts for alcoholic beverages, vending machines and buffet services. This expanded accountability for the food industry is the right approach to guarantee people greater control and choice in navigating their everyday food environments.

The bill provides very strong protections for the public, and allows them to make healthier choices at the register. However, current wording of the bill gives the National Restaurant Association (representing McDonald's and other chain restaurants) the biggest item on its wish-list: this bill will preempt local laws that require additional information, such as sodium or transfat content. This concession to industry should be written out of the final bill.

On the whole, the national menu labeling legislation is an important first step toward revealing the health risks of consuming fast food. However, the bill leaves some issues a bit murky. There is no stated implementation timeline. Perhaps more importantly, by pre-empting stronger, local regulations (like those in Philadelphia), this bills leaves at risk those who are managing certain diet-related diseases. For those who need sodium, carbohydrate and fat counts, the bill does require a pamphlet be made available, but it leaves unclear how that provision will be enforced (anyone who has tried to get a nutritional brochure at a fast food restaurant knows why this is concerning). The devil will be in the details of the bill's final version - and in the FDA regulations the bill mandates.

For now, the bill hasn't yet passed, and it will serve cities and states well to keep advancing labeling legislation locally, in case Congress fails to enact these reforms in the coming months and years.

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