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November 6, 2003
I'M HUNGRY, NOT STUPID!
Fast-food and other chain restaurants would be required to disclose more nutritional information if legislation introduced yesterday in Congress by Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) became law. The Menu Education and Labeling (MEAL) bill would require fast-food chains to list calorie counts on fast-food menu boards, and would require table-service chains to list calories, saturated-plus trans fat, carbohydrates, and sodium on printed menus. The bill applies only to standard menu items ó not changing specials ó and only to chains with 20 or more outlets. Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) announced that he will introduce a companion bill in the U.S. Senate later this year.
The legislation is being praised by health-related watch dog groups which indicate that there's broad public support for restaurant menu labeling. Recent surveys in fact indicate that that two-thirds of U.S. citizens support requiring chain restaurants to display calorie content on menu boards and menus.
Look, this is a no-brainerÖ nutritional information is needed on chain restaurant menus, period! Estimates have it that weíre getting about one-third to one-half of our calories from outside the home, and that weíre eating out twice as often as we did in 1986. And does anyone really question whether fast food restaurants are an important contributor to rising rates of overweight and obesity in this country? (When people eat out at restaurants, they donít eat as well as at home. They consume more calories and saturated fat, fewer nutrients, like calcium, and less fiber.) Despite these generally accepted facts, the restaurant industry won a special exemption in the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act ó the 1990 law that requires manufacturers of packaged foods to list nutrition information on labels. Several of the fast-food chains that provide posters or brochures in restaurants only did so to avoid legal action in the mid-80s by several state attorneys general.
This year, restaurant industry lobbyists are trying to keep nutrition information off menus by raising misleading red herrings, and the restaurants themselves are chiming in with advertising campaigns suggesting that fast food ñ like Kentucky Fried Chicken ñ is actually good for youÖ because after all, if itís good for Dr. Atkins, then it must be good for you too. Give Me A Break! Yeah, I love eating fast food just as much as the next guy (and haven't, by the way, since October 13) but don't try to pass the food off as actually being good for me. I'm hungry, not stupid!
Posted by Mikal at November 6, 2003 5:04 AM
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People must be responsible for themselves. However, I think it imperative that others (we, society, the federal government) empower people to make informed, reasoned choices, if they so choose.
Choosing a fast food meal over a meal prepared at home, is neither a rational nor reasonable choice, it is a copout for being lazy. The empty calories, saturated fats, and huge amounts of salt that these "meals" contain are the biggest contributing factor to the childhood obesity epidemic. McDonald's actually has fast-food restaurants located in some school cafeterias now! The only people who benefit from the fast food market are the "magic weight loss pill" pushers, who prey on desperate men and women, and the pharmaceutical industry who produce the expensive medicine for millions of diabetic Americans. And yes, it is much easier to drive up to a window and have your meal handed to you in a bag, but if you stop to look at what this is doing to our children, our family dinners, and our waistlines, is it really worth the cost? It is much less expensive to cook a meal at home than it is to buy a cold burger and fries for a family of four. It takes time and it takes energy, but aren't your health and your families' health worth the extra half hour you have to invest. Does anyone even remember what a home cooked meal tastes like?
It is no secret that fast food is bad for you. If you start posting all the info, people won't read it because they don't really want to know. They just want someone to blame. And yes, they are lazy!!! Why, when I was a child.......
I whole heartedly agree with Cindra. Why waste the money and natural resources (rebuilding signs and throw-away menus) to add nutritional information? Who's going to use the information? The I'm-trying-to-talk-on-my-cell-phone-while-I-order stock broker looking for an egg McMuffin while he's sucking down a venti skinny caramel macchiato, light on the froth, and can you be quiet, because I'm on the phone...that guy doesn't have the 'time' to read the message. Or will it benefit the construction workers from down the block that just want a hot coffee, and what the hell, throw in an apple pie? NO.
These people, the average McDonald's consumer, don't care. The people that buy fastfood are there to get in/out and they are not going to take the time to smell the roses of information, nor will they likely have the background to decipher said information.
People eat at fast-food places for any number of reasons: convenience, price, taste, menu selection, quickness, etc. People make these choices based on their own criteria: it's the same choice/logic when someone chooses to eat ice cream or a frozen pizza before going to bed or after they've already eaten a meal. Freedom to eat what we choose is crucial. Giving consumers appropriate information about nutrition, calories, fats, ingredients is always a good idea. The argument that "people won't read the info, so don't bother making it available or requiring it to be labeled" is spurious, and even specious at best. I say: "Label! Label! Label!" Food items, only, though - definitely not people or groups.
"Here, Here" -- to what Lee has to say about this topic. "Boo" to Matt's position (still have love for ya though, kid).
Matt, I understand your frustration about the waste, but I am tired of people using ignorance as an excuse. I, too, am for labeling, but, I don't think it will make a difference. I think people really know, just like with smoking. Now, they will have no excuses. Except... laziness and really not wanting to know.
Im not hungry but i crave food !!!!!!!!!! HELP ME PLAESE.
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