N.Y.C. Taking Another Stab at Fast-Food Calorie Counts ; Initial Attempt Fell Flat in Court

Oct 25, 03:31 PM

Current Headlines: By DAVID B. CARUSO, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK Burger joints beware: New York's calorie crusaders are at it again.

City health officials announced Wednesday that they hope to revive their stalled plan to force fast-food chains to add calorie counts to the big menu boards that hang above their counters.

The city's original effort to put calories on menus was struck down by a judge in September, but Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden said the regulation has been reworked and is ready for a second try.

"People deserve to have more information when they are ordering food," he said.

Like the previous regulation, the new version presented to the Board of Health on Wednesday would require restaurants like McDonald's, Burger King and Taco Bell to list a calorie count for each menu item at least as prominently as the price.

City officials have argued that action is needed to address an obesity epidemic in the city, which they blame partly on more residents relying on fast food for a large percentage of their regular meals.

The idea, Frieden said, is to make people think twice about ordering a 1,000-calorie lunch, which for many people is about half the recommended daily total of calories.

As with the original rule, the new policy wouldn't apply to most fine dining establishments, or the thousands of family-owned delis and pizza shops around New York City; only chains with 15 or more stores will be covered, and then only restaurants serving standardized portion sizes that can easily be measured for calorie content.

Restaurants are, nevertheless, almost certain to sue for a second time over the plan.

E. Charles Hunt, executive vice president of the New York State Restaurant Association, called the proposal "unfortunate."

"It goes beyond the scope of good government," he said. "It is micromanaging small business."

Fast-food companies have argued that the calorie data will clutter menus and irritate customers, who don't necessarily want to be confronted with health data.

In their first lawsuit, restaurants argued that the health department doesn't have the authority to impose such a rule. A federal judge agreed, to some extent. In a ruling issued in September, U.S. District Judge Richard J. Holwell said the initial rule conflicted with federal food-labeling laws. But he also suggested that a few adjustments could resolve those legal hurdles.

The revised rule contains one major change:

Initially, the policy only applied to restaurants that had already decided to offer nutritional information voluntarily to customers. Most fast-food giants have made such information available for years, and the city argued that it would be easy for them to provide some of the data on their menus.

This time, restaurants would be required to post calorie information regardless of whether they had done so previously.

Frieden said the change brought the rule into line with Holwell's ruling and addressed complaints that the city was punishing restaurants that had tried to be good corporate citizens by voluntarily providing nutrition data.

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