UK Restaurants to Display Calorie Counts
Starbucks calorie counts in New York. Photograph from bitchcakesny on Flickr
Since the obesity issue in the UK is now considered a "mounting crisis," the government is stepping in and pushing major food chains to display calorie counts. Pizza Hut, with about 700 outlets in the UK, was first to publicly step up and offer the nutritional info. The goal is for every takeaway outlet, and maybe even some Michelin-starred restaurants, to share the levels of fat, sugar, and salt.
In New York, food chains with more than 15 outlets across the United States must display calorie listings, and California passed similar legislation. While it's a little disconcerting to know your gussied-up coffee has 450 calories, it's probably better to stop pretending it has zero.
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8 Comments:
They just began doing this in Seattle too. It is kind of appalling to see that innocently adding whipped cream to your hot chocolate adds like 150 calories, but I think it definitely has made me think about my choices--like, I'd rather have a cookie instead of the whipped cream, instead of having both.
cakespy at 2:38PM on 01/16/09
I think this is a great idea! I do look up how many calories the drinks I have after I order them and sometimes they make me want to barf (not in the literal sense). This would avoid at least some regret!
Hillary
Chew on That
Chew on That at 2:58PM on 01/16/09
I think this is useful for when I'm trying to make the right choice. For example, I had no idea that Dunkin' Donuts' cinnamon raisin bagel has fewer calories than its plain bagel (don't even get me started on the muffins!). But the rest of the time, I really don't care--I actually kind of revel of the perversion of enjoying my Happy Meal while reading the nutrition information on the bottom of the box. This should be helpful to people who don't know a lot about the food industry.
emgroff at 4:07PM on 01/16/09
When this whole calorie listings came up in NYC, I was a combination of uncomfortable and mad, thinking it puritanical to post calorie counts next to items on a menu, kinda like pinning a scarlet letter next to the extra delicious ones. But now that I've ordered from these menus a few times, I'm okay with it. I usually will end up passing on the fries or the girl-y coffee drink and feel pretty good about it, to boot.
JustNancy at 5:17PM on 01/16/09
Posting calorie counts is such a good idea. Especially with how crazy portions have become in America, it can be difficult to be good at estimating number of calories. I would much rather have informed food consumers than blindly profiting food establishments.
runnereater at 6:29PM on 01/16/09
YAY! \o/
This makes my little studying-to-be-a-registered-dietitian heart aflutter with glee~
feriorrenna at 10:13PM on 01/16/09
It's a great example of government intervention: no one's telling you not to eat it, but rather giving you information and letting you make a choice.
NotAmerican at 2:52AM on 01/17/09
My only problem with this (particularly so far in the US) is that it's only for chains or companies with more than some set number of stores. The implication is, as it has been, that one-off restaurants (be they diners or Michelin starred affairs) are healthier than food selling establishments with more outlets. Clearly that's not the case. I understand the argument that for small companies it would cost a lot to do specific break downs of every item. But I think that we could require a reasonable estimate. With simple tools like Nutritiondata.com it's a matter of a few minutes to add up the calories in, say, a 6oz burger patty, a standard hamburger bun and one slice of American cheese and put that on the menu. Upscale restaurants who change their menus frequently could still do a similar exercise as they certainly pay attention to their food costs and, thus, portion size. They could figure out an approximate calorie total for the main ingredients in their dishes and make that approximation available to their customers. Presuming some customers will object that "it's a special occasion and I don't want to see the calories listed on the menu" and don't want the waiter to offer a menu with nutritional information on it because "are you saying this menu makes me look fat?" there could be a note on a menu that doesn't have nutritional information that such a menu is available for the asking. Or, perhaps, identical menus could be printed on opposite sides of a page but one with the nutritional information. I'm sure there are other minor practical challenges to implementing it smoothly for each and every restaurant but I think it's a problem to only hold multiple-outlet restaurants responsible for making information available to customers.
ccbweb at 11:15AM on 01/17/09