Lesley Stedman Weidenbener reports that HB 1207 was reported out of committee. It would require that restaurant chains with more than 10 locations in the state make nutritional information available for their food, either on the menu or a separately published document.
Specifically, the restaurant would have to make available information for each food item on:
(1) Total calories; (2) Total fat in grams; (3) Total saturated fat in grams; (4) Total trans fat in grams; (5) Total cholesterol in grams; (6) Total sodium in milligrams; (7) Total carbohydrates in grams; (8) Total fiber in grams; (9) Total sugars in grams; and (10) Total protein in grams.
Republicans on the House Health Committee, except for Rep. Turner, voted against the measure complaining that this was one more regulation to burden businesses that were already hard pressed. Democrats said the bill was necessary because it was a necessary tool to help combat the obesity problem in Indiana.
I’m all for more information for the consumer. And I’m not sure how much of a burden it would be to post a menu with that information and maybe (thought it’s not mentioned in the bill) throw the information up on the restaurant’s website. (The way the bill is written, I don’t think there is an obligation to put it on each menu distributed – I think one of those large menu signs with the information would suffice). That said, I don’t know how many Hoosiers out there are really trying to watch what they eat but are getting blindsided by those fried snickers bars they thought might be healthy. I’m exaggerating, of course; there are plenty of products marketed as “healthy” that have mediocre to bad nutritional content. And can be tough to get much in the way of healthy food out at restaurants, with vegetable selections often being limited to iceberg lettuce. But I suspect a lot of out of shape Hoosiers aren’t really trying that hard.
Do legislators really have this much spare time on their hands? Not to be “nit-picky” but how is this going to do anything except add about a nickel to every menu item?
Does anybody think putting a sign up with the nutritional content is going to help curb obesity or change anyones choices? Perhaps after standing line for 5 minutes waiting to order your big mac, you’ll see the sign and suddenly have a revelation and opt for the salad?
Rising unemployment, inflation, govt waste, 2 wars, banks failing, savings accts blown to hell, stock market swirling the bowl, politicians being indicted weekly and the best this moron can up with is, in effect, adding one more layer to the cost of doing business.
Sweet Jesus we sure do waste a lot of time, money and effort on stoopid shit.
I read the bill and one of the first thoughts that came to my mind was, “Oh, Tim’s gonna love this.”
I AM a pretty easy mark, aren’t I?? heh!
I do not think we should force places to sell healthy food.
I DO think that we should put the calories right next to the price of each item. There is NO reason not to do it, and many people DO get fooled into thinking a salad is better than a steak. (Hint: Many times, it would be better to get a 16oz trimmed steak than a typical salad).
Any business knows how to add their money. It really isn’t that hard to take the calories from the ingredients you use, add them up, and put them on the menu.
I work for the deli in a national “health food” chain, and we don’t provide nutritional information. I’m sure it’s while our foods contain only “all natural” ingredients, they’re sometimes high in fat and calories. However, I don’t understand why a chain that promotes how concerned it is for its guests and employees wouldn’t provide this information. The problem isn’t just limited to restaurants however, as the deli problem shows.
One other good reason to post nutrition information is to help citizens keep track of their calories. Even if you make a less healthy choice at a restaurant, you still need to know how many calories you consumed. If you ate 1200 calories for dinner instead of the 800 you were supposed to consume, you could still drop another 400 calories somewhere to balance out your diet.
That said there are plenty of things that should be labeled that aren’t, like ingredients, place or origin, and whether the products conatins any genetically modified ingredients or whether meat was raised with antibiotics and hormones.
I’m all for this. When I started off last year at this time to drop 75 pounds (which are gone btw!!!!!) it was difficult to know what was healthy and what wasn’t in restaurants. You’d be surprised how many menu items sound good on paper but are actually “bad” for you calorie or fat wise-especially dinner salads. I mean I knew that a salad with deep fried chicken on it wasn’t a healthy choice-but even some of the salads with grilled chicken weren’t any better than most meal items in the end.
75 pounds in a year! Holy hell, man. Well done. Is that even healthy?
Yeah, I managed to lose on average between 2-3 pounds/week. That is the recommended amount. I actually lost between 65-70 of it between Jan and Aug of last year and have worked off the last five over the past six months. I didn’t starve myself; just changed what and how I ate…and exercise at least four times a week for two hours a session.
I’m at 175 now; which is what I was around 23. Only now most of it is muscle weight-my body fat is around 15%-which is considered ideal for my age!
Now it’s time to go have my six-inch Subway Club with light mayo and veggies, Baked Lays, and Raspberry tea. Jared’s my homie;-)
BTW now I can go to my physical w/o my doctor chastising me…only this year will be marked with psa tests and colonoscopies…and any other tests BC/BS will pay for at 40;-(
Wow…I can hear your doctor now…
“Well done on losing weight! I have nothing to complain about. Now, bend over…”
This probably won’t be a problem for chain restaurants, but it would be for local restaurants, hence the requirement of more than 10 locations. Also, joking aside, fried snickers and similar items are usually (but not always) “fair food” available from temporary food vendors at festivals, fairs, etc. Again, the temporary food vendor would have to have more than 10 locations in the state, which is highly unlikely. Most people know that elephant ears and fried snickers are not health food, just as we know that Twinkies and doughnuts are not healthy.
As Jason alluded to, people do seem to put a halo on certain types of foods such as salads and deli sandwiches, no matter what the ingredients. We might be surprised to find out that a small or medium steak with a baked sweet potato on the side is lower in saturated fat and higher in fiber, minerals and vitamins than the chicken strips salad laden with mayonnaise-based dressing, croutons, cheese, nuts, dried fruit, etc. Despite their inevitable protests, this would not be that much of a burden on most chain restaurants, and it might help people plan their meals better. I may go to McDonalds to get a giant salad, only to find out that the hamburger with a side salad and oil and vinegar dressing is a better idea–as long as I don’t use all of the dressing.
Restaurant chains already have nutritional information available, but it is often not easily accessible to consumers. Any chain restaurant that adds a nickel to every menu item because of this requirement would be gouging consumers.
I can’t really say how I feel about the merits of making this into law – I’m ambivalent about that.
However, I do agree that it’s very hard to eat in restaurants when you’re trying to lose weight for exactly this reason; impossible to figure out what your nutritional content really is. I can make a grilled chicken breast with veggies and rice at home and be well within my desired calorie range. I can order the same thing in a restaurant and it can even look the same on the plate but have 2 or three times more calories than I want. I have no way of being sure.
I think it would be great if more restaurants actually gave that info – it would be incentive for me to patronize them.
Yeah and it was only AFTER the first such exam that I looked closely at my doctor’s digits and realized he has fat fingers….OUCH! But he does do a decent job of distracting with conversation….