Nutritional Labeling at Chain Restaurants

The National Restaurant Association is joining restaurant chains Food Retailers, public health advocates, and the House in the crusade to reconstruct our current health care system. Their biggest endorsement, not surprisingly, is to support the Menu Education and Labeling (MEAL) Act and the Labeling Education and Nutrition (LEAN) Act. The biggest legislative decision we’ve seen in recent years was when LEAN was signed into law in 1990, requiring food manufacturers to disclose the fat (saturated and unsaturated), cholesterol, sodium, sugar, fiber, protein and carbohydrate content in their products. Though other provisions were included in this act, and a few others have become law in the years since, labeling of prepared foods is the first major legislative proposition we’ve seen in some time.


“The individual and societal costs of poor nutrition and diet-related chronic disease compel us to take concrete steps to fashion a society in which the healthy choice is the easy choice, and in which prevention always comes before treatment”, stated Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa. Under the new legislation, restaurants with more than 20 locations will be required to list calories clearly on their menus and menu boards. They must also to be able to provide the consumer with additional information including fat, saturated fat, sodium, fiber, sugar, protein, and carbohydrates, upon the consumers request. With obesity having become an epidemic in America, the proposed federal legislation hopes to provide consumers in every part of the country a consistent format with the information necessary to make healthy decisions. A national standard should empower & enlighten consumers, making it easier for them to make healthy decisions for themselves and their families.
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