New York wants calorie counts to appear on fast food menu boards

by Ellen Slattery, Posted Jan 22nd 2008 @ 3:53PM

NYC's Board of Health attempted last year to pass a measure that forced fast food joints to post calorie counts on their menu boards, right where people could see them (and, I guess, be horrified by them and run screaming from the restaurant. Or...something. Not quite sure what the city's goal was).

At any rate, a judge struck down the measure, so now they're back to where they started. But they're not giving up on trying to hoard their mighty caloric knowledge on the citizens of New York! By golly, they will succeed in getting people to acknowledge the 600 calories in that Premium Crispy Chicken Ranch BLT Sandwich they're eating! And then the Board of Health officials will sleep soundly at night, feeling virtuous that they have single-handedly handled the "obesity epidemic." Right?

For the record, Burger King and McDonald's already make this information available (it took me half a minute to find how many calories were in that Chicken McWhatever listed above), they just don't advertise it like the marquee outside of Radio City. Currently, if the city's restaurants want to display their food's nutritional info, they are more than welcome to.

And I mean, really, how many people nowadays don't know that fast food is bad for them? I highly doubt that prominently displaying caloric information will make people who have already walked through a eatery's doors gawk at the fat content and walk out of the store in a huff. I mean, if I want a cookie, I'm eating the cookie knowing that it's bad for me (and even secretly reveling in that fact).

If enacted, the regulation will go into effect March 31. So, until then, we can remain uneducated, bumbling masses. Sound good?

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Filed Under: Business, Newspapers, Chefs & Restaurants, Fast Food, Restaurants
Tags: america, burger, Burger King, BurgerKing, caloric, calories, cheeseburger, chicken, fast food, joint, McDonalds, nutrition, nutritional, sandwich

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

1-27-2008 @6:58PM thekevinmonster said... McDonald's has a very interesting way of providing the nutritional information to every customer now. At least, around southeast michigan.

They print it on the back of the food placemat.

That's great, right? Except it's on the BACK. So you're eating your food, and right about 3/4 of the way through your burger and fries, you see, "FLIP ME OVER FOR NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION!" or similar. The last time I want to see that my burger has 1,000 calories is right after I've eaten it.

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