Has been read twice.

Restaurant labeling

by Meredith Dietrich

Features Editor

The average American’s daily caloric intake exceeds 2,000 calories and if not countered by exercise, it can cause at least a one-pound gain in weight per month. A new bill in the U.S. House of Representatives would require fast-food restaurants to label the calorie and fat content of their food.

The bill, Menu Education and Labeling, was proposed by Rep. Rosa Delauro, D-Conn., and would require chain restaurants to label calories, fat and sodium content in the foods. This bill applies to chains with 20 or more outlets, affecting restaurants run by large groups such as Yum Brands Inc., who run Taco Bell and Pizza Hut.

“This bill will give consumers the necessary nutritional information to make healthy choices for themselves,” Delauro said.

While more than two-thirds of the United States population is overweight, it may not be just from fast-food restaurants. Today, restaurants are serving larger portions and people have started to think it’s a normal size. Restaurants compete for business, and serving more food can attract more repeat costumers.

“This bill is essential because you shouldn’t be eating food on a regular basis if you don’t know what’s in it,” University of Wisconsin lecturer Donna Weihofen said.

Regular restaurants with set recipes are not required to label their food. Creative restaurants, where chefs are constantly changing the menus, cannot account for everything they put into their foods, especially when the meals change from day to day, Weihofen said.

“If a person is concerned, they should always ask what’s in their food,” Weihofen said.

Compared to restaurant food sales in 1970, 46 percent more Americans spend money on food in restaurants. In a telephone survey of 600 people done by Center for Science in the Public Interest, 67 percent believed that requiring fast-food restaurants to display caloric content was necessary.

“A McDonald’s Big Mac has 590 calories no matter where you get it,” said the center’s Margo Wootan.

According to the center’s survey, most Americans do not realize how many foods are filled with unnecessary calories. However, the fast-food industry has argued that their products are not the only reason for obesity and that a lack of exercise is also a major problem. Delauro has argued otherwise.

“Studies have shown that children eat almost twice as many calories when they eat at a restaurant as they do when they eat at home,” Delauro said.

UW sophomore Michael Goodman believes that the bill is essential for parents to know what their children are eating.

“It is a genuine necessity only because the general public should be informed of what nutrients, good and bad, they are putting in their bodies,” Goodman said. “With this bill, there can be no excuses for parents allowing their children to eat nothing but fast food without knowing what mal-nutrients they are ingesting.”

Although the National Restaurant Association believes the bill is unnecessary, most Americans agree that it is essential to better eating. If the portion sizes were smaller, people might be in better shape.

“If they could cut down the portion sizes then everything would be far better,” Weihofen said.