"CalorieCounts" news and stories

Burgerville, a fast-food chain centered in the Pacific Northwest, has made a business move that feels more Big Brother than burger joint: They've started printing personalized calorie counts on their receipts.

Most people agree it's good to be an informed consumer, but it's one thing to have posted calorie counts on the wall. Customized receipts that total up all of the calories of the food you ordered, even going as far as to tell you the percentage of your daily total of fat, calories, and protein that the meal you're about to consume constitutes is something else all together. (The information, by the way, comes courtesy of Nutricate, a system from a company called SmartReceipt).

With only 39 stores, Burgerville doesn't have the vast reach of Burger King or McDonald's, and the chain is commitment to locally sourced ingredients. But although the food is first-class, it's still fast food. The menu is jam packed with burgers, fries, and real ice-cream shakes that can total 800 calories all by themselves.

Effective immediately, a federal appeals court says that all New York restaurants must post their food's caloric information on menu boards, and should begin no later than tonight at midnight.

The bill will apply only to restaurants with 15 establishments or more, and demands that the calorie counts be printed in the same font and size as normal menu information (even if this means making the rest of the menu's text teeny-tiny).

Fines will be instated beginning July 18 if restaurant owners do not comply with the new law.

Restaurant owners will fight out the case again in court on June 9, when the showdown will likely begin again.

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