Check out the latest news, featured on the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's website:

Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) and Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) have introduced the Menu Education and Labeling (MEAL) Act, which would require fast-food restaurants to post the calorie content of menu items, along with other nutrition information, on menu boards, the Los Angeles Times reports. Specifically, the MEAL Act would mandate that fast-food and other chain restaurants print the fat, calorie, carbohydrate and sodium content of each menu item on menu boards and food display tags.

The bill’s sponsors suggest that making such data readily available to consumers would help them make more informed, healthier choices about the food they order. Several cities and states already have adopted similar menu labeling requirements. For example, last September California approved legislation requiring that, by July 1, 2009, chain restaurants with 20 or more outlets in the state provide brochures displaying the number of calories and grams of saturated fat for each menu item. The state also plans to require restaurants to post the calorie content of each item on all menus and menu boards beginning January 1, 2011.

New York City and Seattle have also passed similar measures. In addition to action by state and local governments, some restaurant chains are already making efforts to comply with menu labeling requirements. For example, Yum Brands Inc., which owns KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut, has announced plans to post product calorie information on menu boards in its approximately 20,000 restaurants by January 2011.

The Los Angeles Times also reports that the restaurant industry is promoting a competing bill. The Labeling Education and Nutrition Act (LEAN) Act would require restaurants with more than 20 outlets to post calorie information on menu boards. By supporting a federal requirement, the LEAN Act also seeks to nullify existing state laws concerning menu labeling and prevent future regional measures that might impose more aggressive measures (Hirsch, Los Angeles Times, 5/16/09 [registration required]).

• menu
• calorie
• labeling
• fast
• food
• california
• fat
• sodium