California’s law requiring that chain restaurants post calorie counts for their foods took effect earlier this month. It’s already producing results, as two chains, Macaroni Grill and Denny’s, are reexamining and revising their offerings.
calories
National Menu Labeling Law Moves Closer To Reality
By 6.12.09
As states continue to adopt laws requiring chain restaurants to include nutritional information on menus, Congress has been considering proposals for a national menu-labeling law. This week, members of Congress, the restaurant industry, and consumer groups reached agreement on a proposal that they hope to introduce this summer.
Oregon Set To Require Menu Labeling For Chain Restaurants
By 6.2.09
Oregon has passed legislation requiring that chain restaurants post calorie information on menus. Oregon’s governor is expected to sign the bill.
Menu Labeling Controversy Reaches Congress
By 5.17.09
California and New York City already require chains to display calorie counts alongside menu items, but if two Members of Congress have their way, menu labeling legislation will soon apply to chains and fast food restaurants throughout the nation. The Menu Education and Labeling (MEAL) Act introduced by Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) would go even farther than existing state and local regulations by requiring chains to disclose fat, carbohydrate and salt content on their printed menus. The food industry, of course, is supporting a more palatable bill with an equally snappy acronym…
Massachusetts Fast Food Chains Must Now Display Calorie Counts
By 5.14.09
Massachusetts has approved a new regulation to list calorie counts at fast food eateries and other chain restaurants throughout the state.
Red Lobster Finally Makes Nutritional Info Available
By 5.8.09
Last May, we reviewed which fast food and chain restaurant websites were sharing nutritional information with customers and which ones weren’t. Red Lobster has always been stingy about nutritional info, so we’re happy to report that they’ve finally changed their ways and now offer an online and downloadable nutrition guide. The only thing we can’t figure out is how their “1 1/4 lb” steamed lobster is only 45 calories—that works out to about 1.5 ounces of actual lobster. (Thanks to zlionsfan!)
Terrifying Website Tells You How Many Calories You Drank Last Night
By 12.8.08
If you’d like to feel bad, we have a link for you. The BBC’s “Alcohol Experiment” shows you the amount of calories you consumed while drinking last night — or any night — and then translates them into (British) food.
Baskin Robbins Death Shake Has 2,300 Calories
By 9.20.08
Last time I checked, an adult male should consume 2,500 calories a day, and this shake nearly meets that requirement! The saturated fat present in that shake is over 3 times the RDA of 20 grams, which will put you on the fast track for heart disease. Of course, that’s if the Type 2 diabetes caused by all 266 grams of that sugar doesn’t get you first.
Why Won't Checkers/Rally's Make Their Nutrition Information Available?
By 7.9.08
When we posted our Ultimate Fast Food Nutrition Guide a few months ago, a couple readers pointed out that Checkers/Rally’s, the chrome and neon double drive-thru hamburger joint, has refused to provide nutrition information to customers for years.
McDonald's CEO Calls Customers Who Want Calories On Menu Boards "CAVE People"
By 5.20.08
If you’d like fast food and chain restaurants to post calorie information on menus and menu boards, Jim Skinner, the CEO of McDonald’s thinks you’re a “naysayer” and a “CAVE person,” — meaning Citizens Against Virtually Everything, says theChicago Tribune.
Poll: Consumers Aren't Very Good At Estimating Calorie Content
By 4.21.08
At Quiznos, which regular sub, with cheese and dressing, has the most calories? ( surveys) The Center for Science in the Public Interest and the American Heart Association recently conducted a scientific poll (unlike the completely unscientific one above) in which they asked a sampling of…
Judge: Calories To Be Posted On Fast Food Menus In NYC!
By 4.17.08
The Wall Street Journal’s Health Blog informs us that a federal judge has given the go ahead to NYC’s new (rewritten) menu labeling law, thus ending (until the inevitable appeal) a fierce and sometimes weird battle between the fast food industry and NYC’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
San Francisco Orders Restaurants To Display Calorie Information, Industry Laughs
By 3.30.08
San Francisco passed a resolution last week requiring chain restaurants to display calorie information on their menus, but the industry couldn’t care less. They will continue fattening us up like gingerbread cash-cows, regardless of whatever regulations pitiful municipalities hurl their way.
NYC To Vote On New And Improved Menu Labeling Regulation
By 1.22.08
The New York City Board of Health will vote today on a new regulation requiring calories on menu boards in New York City. The former rule was shot down by a federal judge who ruled that the regulation’s criteria for determining which restaurants would be required to post calorie information on their menus was illegal.
Taco Bell "Fresco" Bowl: 13g Of Fat or 8g? 350 Calories or 430?
By 1.14.08
I ordered the Zesty Chicken Border Bowl Fresco style without dressing. On the menu at the store, it reads under 9 grams of fat but on online, it reads 13 grams of fat. Please compare your special nutrition page for Fresco menu items to the Nutrition Calculator on the Taco Bell site. I made sure that I chose “Fresco Style” on the calculator and to be advertising something as under 9 grams of fat, but really having 13 is very misleading and wrong.
Top 10 Most Calorie-Packed Fast Food Items
By 11.28.07
ACalorieCounter.com compiled the 272 fast food items most densely packed with calories. Here’s the 10 worst offenders:
60 Minutes Tackles The Menu Labeling Controversy
By 11.19.07
60 minutes aired a lengthy report last night on the menu labeling controversy, and all the usual suspects were in attendance.
New York City Proposes New Menu Labeling Regulations
By 10.25.07
NYC just isn’t giving up. They’ve rewritten the menu labeling regulation so that rather than making the menu rules dependent on whether or not the restaurant was already supplying nutritional information, all restaurants with more than 15 locations nationally will be required to put calorie info on the menus. This change puts them in accordance with federal law.
