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Menus to start counting calories
Jonathan Prynn, Consumer Affairs Editor15 Jan 2009
THE Government today launched a new calorie labelling scheme to help diners watch what they eat in restaurants and other food outlets.
The Food Standards Agency wants to see more consistent information made available to people eating out, and is in talks with a number of companies which will adopt the scheme later this year.
Under the plans, calorie information will be printed on menus and other materials visible where customers order their food. An FSA survey found 85 per cent of people thought restaurants, cafes and pubs should make clear what is in the food they serve, and 80 per cent said the information would be most useful at the point where they chose what to eat.
Tim Smith, the FSA's chief executive, said: "This is the first and simplest step and can only be a good thing for all consumers."
The Government hopes it will encourage the food industry to support healthy eating as part of a wider attempt to deal with mounting levels of obesity. Some US cities have attempted similar measures.
The catering industry says there may be problems assessing the calorie content of menus that change every day.
Reader views (7)
Fat people are to blame, in the vast majority of cases, for getting to the point where they can no longer control their problem. It would be stupid to argue otherwise. They cannot resolve their obesity once they have reached this stage though. By the time those uninformed and, it must be said, cruel people who would use ridicule and verbal abuse to 'encourage' weight loss in the already morbidly obese do their thing, it is too late for that to work. At best it would only worsen the situation. Psych reality can't be ignored.
But people who would use ridicule and verbal abuse tend to enjoy doing so whenever they get an excuse. Again - psych reality at play.
- Rogan, Irving, 19/01/2009 04:23
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I'm a British ex-pat in New York where they already have this for chains with more than 15 branches in the city and I've read that many people definitely think twice about what they order. I think there are many people who do need to be more aware of what they eat and encouraged to make healthier choices. It can be quite a shock to find out just how many calories are in some foods. Scones in Starbucks can run to 600calories, but I agree there's a need to implement it correctly
- Lc, New York, 16/01/2009 16:03
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I cannot see all these problems having to have food tested. If you know the calories of the raw ingredients (available for nearly everything) you can work out the calories of the end product.
There will have to be some leeway such as stating a typical portion has X calories. That will give people a choice of choosing the 400, 800 or 1,200 calorie course.
This will be really useful as often you have no idea what has gone into a dish, it could be lean grilled meat in a vegetable sauce or a sauce could be full of butter, cheese and cream or even a vegetable sauce with lots of added oil.
- Tom, Watford (UK), 16/01/2009 14:13
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It won't work. The only thing that will get people to thin down is to make fat people unacceptable. To ridicule fat people. OK, I know that isn't a very nice thing to say but someone has to face the fact that as long as it is OK to be fat then fat is here to stay.
- Jim, Auckland, New Zealand., 16/01/2009 06:44
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If they bulldoze this through as is their wont generally, how about restricting it to estimated high/medium/low calories for a general perspective rather than an unnecessary, unworkable and unreasonable pedantic precision to the last ounce/calorie?
- Rogan, Irving, 15/01/2009 22:34
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This idiotic scheme has not been thought through. Menus,sandwiches, pies, ice creams, indeed all sorts of foods come in vastly differing portion sizes. Small scale food sellers, and this means every Restaurant, cafe, Pub, snack bar, etc. will not be able to provide the information required. My solution: show everything as having an estimated 5000 calories and those that dont like this dont have to purchase.
- Andrew, Battle East Sussex, 15/01/2009 19:58
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As the owner of an independent food retail business I can't imagine the cost of having every item we produce sent off to a laboratory to have it's calorific content investigated.
I also believe the report is misleading. If you ask consumers if they would like the calorific content of every item on a menu they will virtually all say yes. Ask them if they would be willing to pay 50% extra for a meal to cover the cost of testing the food’s calories and the answer would be very different indeed.
The government (and the FSA) need to start encouraging consumers to take some responsibility for there lifestyle choices, not just give them clonky calorie information supplied by retailers.
- Ben, London, W1, 15/01/2009 18:22
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