Posted on 06/20/2012 9:09:19 AM PDT by Hojczyk
A Big Mac is a Big Mac.
But a pizza? There are 34 million ways to customize it, depending on toppings and crust and size, according to the number-crunchers at Domino’s.
That’s the message that some of the nation’s largest pizza chains want to impress upon Capitol Hill lawmakers Wednesday as they push for changes to a proposed menu labeling plan that would force chain restaurants and other food outlets to post the calorie counts of the foods they’re selling.
A fledgling coalition of pizza chains — including Domino’s, Papa John’s, Little Caesars, Godfather’s Pizza and Pizza Hut — argues that the government’s plan forces store owners to pay for in-store menu boards that most of their customers don’t see before ordering. The American Pizza Community, as the coalition is called, says 90 percent of their orders are placed online and over the phone.
Then there’s the problem of squeezing all the potential offerings onto one menu board.
“A light bulb goes on when people hear about all the possible combinations for pizza,” said Lynn Liddle, a Domino’s executive and chair of the coalition. “They start to realize how difficult it would be to take a one-size-fits-all approach.”
Congress required menu labeling as part of the health-care reform law enacted in 2010, and the FDA has been working on the details ever since. The goal is to combat obesity by helping consumers make informed choices when they eat out, especially now that a third of the calories Americans consume come from foods prepared outside the home. Many studies show that calorie intake is higher when people dine out.
(Excerpt) Read more at 2012 ...
Chipolte already has calorie counts on the menu boards for each item you can select. It is a range since everything is hand assembled and thus allowing for variations in the actual amount in a scoop of an item.
Pizza should be just as easy...
We could have a task force. Calorie Count Cops. They could issue tickets. Think of the revenue that could be generated for cash-strapped cities and states. They could put pictures of fat people on pizza boxes, like the missing kids on milk containers and Surgeon General warnings on cigarettes. And pizza patrons would have to sign a waiver that they read the full calorie count disclosure statement as required by law before purchasing their pizza. The restaurant would have to file those signed statements with the task force or face felony charges. Just think of the jobs we’ll be creating to manage this new program. Congress should hire us. We’re geniuses!
The same government with a budget $1.5 trillion per year in deficit, wants to count the calories in pizzas.
Government at all levels has far too much money, giving them resources to delve into too many topics, and power to do so.
“All things being equal (pizza never is tho) I would favor the pizza vendors with calorie information.”
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Yes. That’s the way it is SUPPOSED to work in a free economy.
Businesses try to please their customers, and customers choose where to spend their money based on those efforts.
No government intervention/coercion necessary or wanted.
See:
- Mandated bans os smoking in PRIVATELYowned venues.
- Government limits on drink and food portion sizes.
- Etc...
Has anybody in modern history ever waddled into a fast food or pizza joint and said “Heck, that’s a lot of calories, I’ll pass”?
Maybe they should. Maybe we are.
Apparently there are FReepers, some on this very thread, who think that having The Federal Government tell Mom'n'Pop Corner Pizza Parlor what they MUST put on their menu is a swell idea.
*sigh*
The federal government has no authority to do this anyhow.
No, nor in all of recorded history.
OTOH, there are any number of waddling congress critters who are more than willing to tell the rest of us that it is and that we shall pass.
And even, shamefully enough, some FReepers who seem to be on the same cattle-car train.
Sure they do.
“The federal government has no authority to do this anyhow.”
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I believe that argument lost its meaning, well over 100 years ago, and in ways much more damaging than those revolving around self-important, coercive, condescending Food Commissars.
Nope. It’s an old Yogi Berra tale. Originally it was 6 vs 8 slices.
This regulation is part of Obamacare, which is unconstitutional to begin with.
Furthermore, these restaurants are serving customers in a physical location where the food is made. There is no legitimate “commerce clause” authority.
Finally, the Founding Fathers could never have imagined that the federal government they designed would ever be regulating menus at restaurants. Such a monstrosity was never intended.
It may have. But now is the time to reclaim its validity. We have to keep arguing it, until it is recognized by the courts.
MIND YOUR OWN F'ING BUSINESS!!!!
THANK YOU
ExCTC
Government meddling in the private sector taken to moronic new lows.
Isn’t there anything - anytbing at all - into which these noisome busybodies won’t stick their irritating noses?
This regulation is part of Obamacare, which is unconstitutional to begin with.
Says who? The Supremes haven't. Ruth Buzzy Ginsberg certainly had quite the smirk on her sour puss when talking about it last week.
Furthermore, these restaurants are serving customers in a physical location where the food is made. There is no legitimate “commerce clause” authority.
Tell that to Roscoe Filburn. Come to think of it the case Mom'n'Pop Corner Pizza Parlor has is even weaker than Roscoe's. Did any ingredient of their pizzas ever cross a state line? Were the boxes made from in-state grown trees pulped and process purely within the state lines? Did the cola syrup cross state lines? Was any of the diesel used to transport the tomatoes refined in another state?
Finally, the Founding Fathers could never have imagined that the federal government they designed would ever be regulating menus at restaurants. Such a monstrosity was never intended.
Yeah, that'll work.
Why, yes, yes there is.
Their own business.
If you think it’s all hopeless, why are you here?
Because I don’t think it’s hopeless.
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