Your Total is 1500 Calories

photo: diseaseproof.com

by Nalina Shapiro

Placing an order for an extra cheesy large pizza or a juicy double cheeseburger, might leave a bitter taste.

Somewhere, in the massive U.S. health care bill, there is a new law requiring restaurants with 20 or more locations to include calorie counts on menus, menu boards and even drive-throughs. The law also requires the Food and Drug Administration to create new national standards for menu labeling.

The goal of the change is raise customer awareness and allow them to process the calorie information. Right now, many restaurants post nutritional information on a side wall but now calorie counts will be hard to avoid.

The restaurant industry supports the bill, which will vary from state to state. New York City was the first in the country to put the calorie posting law into place. Since then, California, Seattle and other places did the same.

According to the Associated Press and Margo Wootan, director of nutrition policy at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, said it is one step in the fight against obesity.

“Coffee drinks can range from 20 calories to 800 calories, and burgers can range from 250 calories to well over 1,000 calories,” said Wootan.

 According to the AP, there are meals excluded from the law like specials on a menu less than 60 days. Also, other nutritional information in addition to calories will have to be available somewhere else in the restaurant.

 Vending machines will also be required to post calorie counts as well as other vendors that do not have visible labels on the front package.

 Currently, the effect of labeling is unclear. According to the AP and the online journal Health Affairs, only half of customers in poor New York City neighborhoods with high rates of obesity and diabetes even noticed the new labels. To an even further extent, the accuracy of the calorie counts may be off. The American Dietetic Association published a survey of 10 chain restaurants and found calories in 29 meals and menu items averaged 18 percent higher than listed.