Enhancing the Effectiveness of Food Labeling in Restaurants

STARTING WITH NEW YORK CITY IN 2006 AND MORE recently in California and Massachusetts, an increasing number of municipalities and states have enacted or are considering legislation mandating calorie posting by fast food restaurants. In recent months, the House and Senate introduced health care reform bills with provisions for menu labeling. The House bill—based on the Menu Education and Labeling (MEAL) Act—would require chain restaurants with 20 or more locations to post the number of calories, grams of saturated fat, and milligrams of sodium next to menu items. Modifying fast food intake is a sensible target for a society confronted with an obesity epidemic that has farreaching health and economic consequences. The Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 1990 led to the ubiquitous labeling of packaged foods. However, the total proportion of food consumed in restaurants has increased steadily since then, and there is a strong, albeit only suggestive, correlation between obesity and patronage of fast food restaurants. It is unlikely, however, that the type of calorie labeling going into effect around the country will have much effect on the prevalence of obesity. Existing evidence on the effectiveness of point-of-purchase calorie labeling is equivocal at best. Calorie labeling can potentially be helpful but whether it is will largely depend on how it is implemented.