In New York You Know What You Eat

As a result of the soaring numbers of obese Americans, whose excessive body weight is compounding the more common health risks, the local government decided to make strict labelling standards in all restaurants. Some time ago, New York became the first city in America where restaurants have stopped using Trans fat when preparing meals. It is believed that the type of fat containing Trans fatty acids is conducive to the development of heart disease. From the beginning of this year all chain restaurants such as McDonald’s, Dunkin’Donuts and Starbucks have also to quote the number of calories on their menu.

I know, what I eat, and can choose accordingly

These rules apply for all food distribution chains of with a minimum of 15 restaurants over the country. In the case of New York this means 2000 restaurants, that means one third of all food that New Yorker eat outside is sold through these outlets. According to a rough calculation, we are talking about 100-400 million meals per year. Local authorities believe that this reform will help people from New York to identify exactly what they are actually eating, so they are better able to fight with diabetes and obesity.

In their opinion, the information displaying the number of calories could, over the next five years, help up to one hundred and thirty thousand New Yorkers to stand up to obesity, and approximately a further thirty thousand to protect against diabetes.

“Residents of the city require this information about calories”, asserts the city health officer Thomas Frieden. Not all the residents are going to use it, but most of them are. When they read it, they may choose something different and so lower the risk of obesity as well as Diabetes, he added.

Food contains plenty of calories

Some of the New York restaurants began to release data about calories as soon as it was required. People found out, for example, that in Chipotle, the Mexican store chain, Chipshave was 570 calories, avocado purée 130 calories and the roasted sandwich contains up to 590 calories. The New York Times has written lately that a typical lunch at McDonald’s; a hamburger, chips and Cola contains 1320 calories, which covers 66% of daily caloric intake of an adult. The similar figures apply to other restaurants such as Burger King or Wendy’s. One donut with cream at Dunkin’ Donuts has about 270 calories.

The time limit for the new arrangement was a couple of months and it expired last May. All those not adhering to the new rules could be fined from 200 up to 2000 US dollars. (3 000 CZK -30 000 CZK).

We don’t agree! called restaurants…

However, not everybody was happy about the decision by the city. The owners of restaurants objected that there will incur costs related with the changes on information boards and printing of new menus. The main argument, which was mentioned at court, was that it is implying to customers that the number of calories is the most fundamental characteristic when choosing healthy food. In their opinion there exist other methods such as posters or web sites, where restaurants can provide more detailed information including the nutrition composition of food; fat, proteins, carbohydrates. The New York State Restaurant Association, which is an organization covering many city restaurants even asked the court to abolish these arrangements. However, judges came to conclusion that the arrangements are in the public interest as customers receive precise information concerning nutrition. Once the court made its ruling, the arrangements came into force. Even if there were only 10% or 20% of customers, who change their attitude, it would be still worthwhile, commented Th. Frieden.

Arrangements work in the U. S., however, they are not to appear in our country

The fact that customers perceive the caloric figures positively is proven by the survey of the City Health Department. It found out that guests who read the nutritional composition ordered food containing in average 634 calories. It is about 50 calories less than the orders of people who ignored the information concerning calories. New York was gradually joined by another 20 states, which have been launching these arrangements as well.

In contrast to New York, restaurants in the Czech Republic are not obliged to quote the figures concerning nutritional composition, so most of them do not bother with it at all. Nevertheless, the pioneers in this field are certainly fast food restaurants. Last year the first restaurant which started quoting a number of calories was one of McDonald’s, which joined its American “brothers”. The number of calories and other nutrition information can be found on the hamburger wrapping or on the tray, or where a table is printed on. On the other hand, it is much more difficult to find out the nutrition composition of a chicken in KFC as there aren’t any tables. However, in case you are interested and ask the staff, you will be referred to their web sites. There you find out that you can eat five “Twisters” to fulfil a daily caloric intake.

According to the spokesman of the Ministry of Health, Tomáš Cikrt, it is compulsory to quote the nutrition composition only on the products with a so called nutrition assertion; food with a lower content of sugar or fat.

In view of the fact that the number of people with obesity and diabetes are increasing, such an arrangement would be more than appropriate.

Source: ČTK