Fast food joints in New York City are about to face their worst nightmare: big, bold calories.
City health officials have put together a regulation that will require some restaurants to advertise calories on the big menus that hang above cashiers. If the law goes into effect, calories will get as much real estate on a menu as the price of a Big Mac or a Whopper.
The plan, said Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden, is to make people think twice before ordering a big calorie-stuffed meal.
It doesn't take much from a dollar menu to fill up the recommended daily 2,000 calorie diet. A Quarter-Pounder with cheese alone is 510 calories. Add fries and a Coke and you're over halfway into the recommended intake in just one meal.
This isn't the first time the City Health Department has fought to hang calories over the counters at restaurants such as McDonald's, Burger King, and Taco Bell. A judge shot down the first regulation last year, but officials have hope that this revised version will bring calories into the limelight.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, former member of President Bush's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, vetoed a similar bill in California. In July, King County in Washington State succeeded in lawfully putting calories on menus.
Restaurants aren't so pleased with the idea of highlighting these numbers and are expected to sue. New York State Restaurant Association Executive Vice President E. Charles Hunt said the proposal "is micromanaging small business."
If it passes, the law in New York City will only apply to restaurants with 15 or more chains that serve standardized portions.
via AP
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