Posted on 04/02/2011 10:11:41 AM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
WASHINGTON (AP) -- It could get harder to indulge in a double cheeseburger and fries without feeling guilty.
Menu labeling requirements proposed Friday by the Food and Drug Administration will require chain restaurants with 20 or more locations, along with bakeries, grocery stores, convenience stores and coffee chains, to clearly post the calorie count for each item on their menus.
"We've got a huge obesity problem in this country and it's due in part to excess calorie consumption outside the home," says Mike Taylor, FDA deputy commissioner for foods. "Consumers generally when you ask them say they would prefer to have that information."
The new rules will apply to menus, both in restaurants and drive-through lanes. They will also apply to vending machines if calorie information isn't already visible on the package.
The calorie counts will apply to an estimated 280,000 establishments and could be on menus by 2012. Required as part of health overhaul legislation signed into law last year, they are designed to give restaurant diners information that has long been available on packaged goods cooked at home. The FDA estimates that a third of calories are consumed by eating out.
But don't expect calorie shock when ordering at the movie theater, where a tub of popcorn can contain well north of a thousand calories - movie theaters are exempt, along with airplanes, bowling alleys and other businesses whose primary business is not to sell food, according to the FDA. Movie theaters pushed to be left out after guidelines published last year included them.
Alcohol will also be exempted, according to the agency. Margo Wootan, director of nutrition policy at the advocacy group Center for Science in the Public Interest, says that could be misleading to consumers.
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...
Spurred on by Obamaocare, maybe?
Nanny State PING!
They really have too much time on their hands. We are paying people to sit around an come up with this nonsense.
No, I’d say that the major cause of the obesity problem is high fructose corn syrup, which is forced on us by the gubbermint.
Can’t remember the last time I was at a chain restaurant.
. And I’ve never been to a restaurant of any kind thinking I was going to get anything healthy. Oh well. I just went on a 10 mile run and a I am feeling some chicken fried steak with sausage gravy at my local mom and pop restaurant.
What we have is a huge bloated federal bureaucracy continues to attempt to stick its nose in everybody's business without any constitutional authority to do any of this crap.
What we need to have done is make a requirement that each and every Federal bureaucratic office post the number of federal tax dollars it wastes on crap like this every year.
Thanks for the ping!
Wasn’t there a study out that said to the effect that even though all these nutritionals are plastered everywhere people ate the same?
This mandate would just be for chains - guess there aren’t any calories in ‘fine dining’ establishments...hmmm, so now Ruth Chris’ and the like are getting slapped with this one?
Nutritionals take all the creativity out of cooking - just belly up to the table for your soylent green portions.
I’ve read that HFCS, unlike most other sugars, does not dampen the appetite upon entering the bloodstream. This could explain the obesity in part (I presume regular sugar is one of the “good” kinds).
If you run 10 miles on a typical day, you’re welcome to eat ANYTHING YOU WANT, as far as I’m concerned.
I’m hungry, I eat. I eat what’s there or what I can get, no thought about what some paper shuffling booger-eating moron in D.C. says.
And why does this terrible epidemic so capriciously single out over-eaters???!!!
It's so unfair!
The major cause of obesity in this country is simple, too many calories and not enough activity.
The only way to loose weight is to practice portion control, eat more lean proteins, fruits and veggies AND increase activity/exercise.
Yes, I am a point counter and I work for Weight Watchers.
Here’s a nice list of restaurant chains that will get hit with this and the costs of menu nutritional writing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_restaurant_chains_in_the_United_States
I have a better proposal. Abolish the FDA since regulating food and drugs are not enumerated powers granted to Congress per Article 1 Section 8 of the Constitution! They are powers reserved to the states or to the people!
Allegra proposes that the FDA be very deeply descoped.
Better we should all worry about our morbidly obese federal government.
When I was a maid at a hotel...I was able to eat whatever I want...whenever I want...and not gain a pound!
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