The countdown to provide calorie counts and other nutrition information for menu items is in full swing for restaurants nationwide. Faced with a December deadline set by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), restaurant chains with more than 20 outlets are busily crunching the numbers to provide nutrition facts on menus, websites and in-store signage.
“Menu labeling is the biggest advance in providing nutrition information to consumers since the law that required Nutrition Facts labels on packaged foods was implemented 20 years ago,” said Margo G. Wootan, nutrition policy director for the Center for Science in the Public Interest.
In addition to calories, written information on total fat, saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol, sodium, carbohydrates, sugar, fiber and protein must be available upon consumer request.
Seeing the facts right up front can help diners avoid or at least be forewarned of the waistline-busting calorie cost of indulgent dishes and drinks.
Joy Dubost, registered dietitian with the National Restaurant Association said, “Many patrons have stated that menu labeling is important to them when dining out and they’re demanding more healthful options.”
Nutrition by the numbers
How do restaurants calculate the nutrition numbers? The FDA allows several methods including nutrition analysis software programs, adapting nutrition information already available for recipes in cookbooks or the more costly laboratory analysis of individual items. Registered dietitian Nicole King of HealthyDiningFinder.com said, “And restaurants have to show their work to the FDA so it’s clear what method was used.”
Serving up the statistics can be complicated. Take a pizza restaurant, for example. How do they list the nutrition facts for all of the possible combinations of toppings? King said, “It’s complex and cumbersome.”
Staff training is also part of the new law. A liberal hand with salt or butter in the kitchen will mean the numbers printed on the menu won’t match the dish being served.
“We have to remember this is hand-crafted food not made to specs such as an Oreo where every cookie is exactly the same size. There are going to be slight variations,” said King.
From pina coladas to cosmopolitans, alcoholic beverages are included in the menu labeling law even though they aren’t part of the packaged foods labeling laws. “But now cocktail menus have to list nutrition information,” said King. So when you say “make mine a double,” don’t forget to double the calories.
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