Ron Donoho

San Diego Consumer

Calorie Counts Coming To Restaurants

Chains with 20 or more restaurants must soon list nutritional information
By Ron Donoho
Posted on Mon, Jun 1st, 2009
Last updated Sun, Jun 14th, 2009

You know the old half-funny punch line that goes, “I was told there would be no math?” Get ready for it to make a comeback at chain restaurants all over the state.

On July 1, the phase-in period starts for restaurants to begin posting calorie counts on their menus. The state law will require chains with more than 20 restaurants to have nutritional information listed on menus and menu boards or printed on a brochure that can be handed out. By January 1, 2011, it will be mandatory for eateries to have the information on the menu pertaining to a food item’s count on calories, carbohydrates, saturated fat and sodium.

McDonald's: start counting.

Photo by Ron Donoho

The law does not pertain to chains with less than 20 establishments, nor to single-restaurant owners or mom-and-pop places. Other states are looking at or have passed similar laws. And in an effort to standardize the practice, federal legislation is in the works.

Proponents say the calorie counts will save lives and money. According to the California Department of Public Health, Californians have gained 360 million pounds over the last decade. And, one in three children and one in four teens are overweight or at risk, with obesity coming in at number two as the biggest cause of preventable death (tobacco use is number-one).

“This legislation will help Californians make more informed, healthier choices,” Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said in a statement.

The California Restaurant Association supports the calorie counts, says CRA spokesperson Daniel Conway. “We were opposed to a previous version of this, but we’ve worked with legislators and gotten behind this,” he says. “It’s helpful for consumers, so we are dealing with the logistical issues this will have for some of our members.”

The cost of changing menus is the biggest financial issue facing chains that will have to comply with the law.

While its possible for chains to post calorie counts for their standardized menu items, that would be a prohibitive challenge for a restaurant like Cowboy Star Restaurant and Butcher Shop in downtown San Diego’s East Village.“As a general rule, this law should allow people to make informed choices at the chain restaurants,” says Cowboy Star owner Jon Weber. “For our restaurant, it won’t change much—unless [legislators] decide to include us in the future.”

Cowboy Star won't have to count.

Photo by Ron Donoho

Weber points out it would be very difficult and costly for him to come up with calorie counts for a menu which changes quite often. “Our menu changes on a weekly basis,” he says.

Yum Brands has announced that its U.S. divisions—including Taco Bell, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Pizza Hut—will quickly put calorie information up on menu boards nationwide.

Just a little cutback on calories apparently will go a long way. According to a Health Impact Assessment prepared for Los Angeles, if 10 percent of eaters at fast-food chains ate meals that were 100 calories lighter, it would avert nearly 40 percent of the 6.75 million pounds gained annually by a population aged 5 or older.

Get ready to do the math.

About the author: Ron Donoho is the development editor of SanDiego.com. He is the former executive editor of San Diego Magazine, and has won more than three dozen Press Club and Society of Professional Journalists awards. His freelance work has been published in Men's Health, Men's Journal, Maxim, Glamour, The Christian Science Monitor and several other national publications.
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