September 11, 2007
Fast Food Restaurants Happy As Judge Tosses NYC's New Calorie Content Disclosure Rule
U.S. District Court Judge Richard Holwell found that fast food restaurants do not need to make their calorie information more prominent. Last December, the Health Department had voted that national chain restaurants, which already have caloric information, should display that info on menus or menu boards. Naturally, the fast food industry protested, because it's very hard to order a Big Mac when it says "540 calories, 29 grams of fat"! And, crap, an Oreo McFlurry is 560 calories!
The restaurants had claimed their First Amendment rights were being violated, but Judge Holwell said he came to his decision without addressing that claim. From the Sun:
The problem with the regulation, Judge Holwell found, was that it only applied to restaurants that voluntarily "have chosen to disclose calorie content information to their customers."Hmm, this makes us wonder if this ruling will prompt the city to require calorie counts from all restaurants!The ruling suggests that if the city required restaurants to disclose calorie counts in the first place, it could then regulate how the calorie information was displayed.
The city is "free to erect mandatory disclosure requirements," the ruling said.
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The First Amendment shouldn't be used to protect businesses that are making Americans obese. It's avoiding the truth, and thus leading to bodily harm. Sure, it's up to an individual to make educated choices, but if the information isn't available, how can one make valid decisions? Until restaurants make it a point to use healthy ingredients, make everyone provide nutrition information.
like foriegn nations do with cigarettes packaging (photos of cancer lungs, heart disease, etc) fast food places should be forced to use photos of obese people, clogged arteries and obese people, er wait i said that twice...
this was the obese can have a market in advertising...
I think anyone can walk into a MickyD's , look around at the people eating there and at the food itself and figure out that it is not healthy. We don't need warning stickers on everything. OF COURSE it's bad for you - who doesn't know that? Does anyone over 10 eating at McDonalds look healthy? No.
so much for that whole 'freedom' thing and personal decision making ... huh? nazis faggots.
maybe people could just learn to make healthy decisions on their own and not rely on the government and fast-food restaurants to look after them.
I actually think this ruling is correct - the law seemed obviously punitive towards restaurants that were bothering to calculate their nutritional information.
And I also buy the argument that is not practical to make every fine restaurant or mom-and-pop provide a nutritional analysis. Too onerous and its not going to be accurate with day-to-day variations anyway. (You couldn't vary the menu with what's in season, for example, without calling in the nutritionist for another round of analysis.)
So, how to proceed? Create some kind of informal program of nutritional analysis. Heck, the New York Times could start running nutritional reviews - "here's a relatively healthy restaurant, we ordered takeout and took it to lab and here are the stellar results. It gets a rating of four carrots out of five."
Jen S.,
Mcdonald's and other fast food restaurants DO provide the information. Did you even read the article? The Health Dept. said it had to be on the menu.
I really hate when you people with an agenda want to treat some companies one way and let others off the hook. It's usually the same people that are most vocal about "equality". Why should McDonald's have to print the calories on their menu and Shake Shack doesn't?
Does eating fast foods change your skin color? Look at the people that populate those establishments here in NYC. Call it "ebonomical food" if you like, but there are some seriously fat people who love the taste of all that grease and gravy. Cause mama cooked dat way a long time ago when they were down trodden?
Fast food ain't cheap so that is not the reason.
The problem with this law is that the nutritional facts had to be posted on the menu... so at McDonald's or Jamba Juice (which just changed the menu board to comply with this), the boards would be riddled with numbers and it would be immpossible to make sense of the menu or calorie content anyway!
How about people exercise instead of trying to nitpick every calorie they consume. Freaking idiots. "But it's the restaurant's fault I'm fat!"
Puuuleeease.
Just don't eat that crap.
A judge recently ruled against two fat women who sued McDonalds claiming they didn't know McDonalds's food made them fat after eating it obessivly more than several times a week.
The judge said something to the affect of: go to the gym and work out, ride a bike, run a few miles...
I eat McDonalds on road trips and maybe when i'm too hungover to care, but seriously folks, get off your lazy asses and do some fucking cardio!
Don't forget Chinese takeout, which is just as bad as your typical fast food entrees. You'd be surprised to know how many calories and fats are in that General Tso's chicken and eggplant with garlic sauce...
#13 has a valid point. I don't know where this "chinese food is healthy" thing came from. Just look at the typical greasy shiny faced, crooked buck toothed chinese food patron, and you have your answer to the health of Chinese food.
McDonald's let's you know it makes you fat. One of it's mascots is a big fat purple monster named Grimace.
#7: Some fast food places have nutrition info available, but I wrote that I think it should be everywhere. Did you even read my comment?
"The First Amendment shouldn't be used to protect businesses that are making Americans obese."
Great idea. The first amendment shouldn't apply in situations where we think the outcome has negative social utility. We should just carve out a bunch of exceptions for cases that you personally believe it shouldn't apply to.
A brilliant solution.
Sorry, was being overly snarky. It's a rough situation: protect given rights, or look out for people who can't take care of themselves? Either way, you're breaking a law or pissing off masses. Maybe we should let people eat themselves to death and be done with it.