Free Essays on New Bill Calls For Calories On Menus

A new bill in Congress that would require many restaurants to include nutritional labels on their menus is set to be introduced Wednesday. The effort comes as the Food and Drug Administration weighs similar proposals and a survey by an advocacy group shows most Americans would like calories listed along with prices. THE PROPOSAL, by Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., would force chain restaurants with at least 20 outlets to list key nutrition information. It would be far less detailed than information boxes now on packaged food, but visitors to a McDonald’s or Wendy’s would see calories listed on menu boards above cashiers’ heads and at drive-in kiosks, while customers at sit-down restaurants, like Denny’s or Applebee’s, would get menus that revealed fat and sodium content along with calories. Though many chains provide the information on their Web sites or keep nutrition binders behind the counter, only a handful make it visible to customers at the point of sale. â€Å"People shouldn’t have to dig for it,† DeLauro said. â€Å"It’s something that’s very important to people and their health.† Two-thirds of Americans support a requirement for restaurants to list calories on their menus, according to a survey to be released Wednesday by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a non-profit group that backs nutrition labeling. Performed by Global Strategy Group in September, the poll shows 67 percent support the labels while 23 percent oppose them. It had a margin of error of four percentage points. MORE MEALS EATEN OUT Americans are dining out in ever greater numbers - even though meals eaten out usually are bigger and often more fattening than those eaten at home. The CSPI estimates we now get one-third of our calories from dining out, while recent data from the NPD Group shows 38 percent of all food is consumed at restaurants, even though that accounts for less than one-quarter of all ... Free Essays on New Bill Calls For Calories On Menus Free Essays on New Bill Calls For Calories On Menus A new bill in Congress that would require many restaurants to include nutritional labels on their menus is set to be introduced Wednesday. The effort comes as the Food and Drug Administration weighs similar proposals and a survey by an advocacy group shows most Americans would like calories listed along with prices. THE PROPOSAL, by Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., would force chain restaurants with at least 20 outlets to list key nutrition information. It would be far less detailed than information boxes now on packaged food, but visitors to a McDonald’s or Wendy’s would see calories listed on menu boards above cashiers’ heads and at drive-in kiosks, while customers at sit-down restaurants, like Denny’s or Applebee’s, would get menus that revealed fat and sodium content along with calories. Though many chains provide the information on their Web sites or keep nutrition binders behind the counter, only a handful make it visible to customers at the point of sale. â€Å"People shouldn’t have to dig for it,† DeLauro said. â€Å"It’s something that’s very important to people and their health.† Two-thirds of Americans support a requirement for restaurants to list calories on their menus, according to a survey to be released Wednesday by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a non-profit group that backs nutrition labeling. Performed by Global Strategy Group in September, the poll shows 67 percent support the labels while 23 percent oppose them. It had a margin of error of four percentage points. MORE MEALS EATEN OUT Americans are dining out in ever greater numbers - even though meals eaten out usually are bigger and often more fattening than those eaten at home. The CSPI estimates we now get one-third of our calories from dining out, while recent data from the NPD Group shows 38 percent of all food is consumed at restaurants, even though that accounts for less than one-quarter of all ...