OMG….Can you believe it! Congress is passing bills all over the United States; to force chain restaurants to list nutritional content next to items on their menus. Could this be the answer to the fight against obesity? This will help me tremendously in my line of work. People really don’t know how much they are eating! It takes months of coaching to help people eat properly. It’s not that they don’t want to; it’s that they are oblivious to calories, fat, and sodium content when they eat out.
The Labeling Education and Nutrition Act (LEAN) was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. The LEAN Act will create a national standard to provide consumers dining in chain food establishments with detailed nutrition information — a measure the Coalition for Responsible Nutrition Information (CRNI) supports (source).
The most recent states to join the growing list looking to require that calorie counts and other nutrition information appear on menus are Maryland and Tennessee. More than 30 states, cities or counties have either enacted or are proposing menu labeling regulations.
In Nashville, the local health board said Thursday it would begin requiring chain restaurants with 15 or more locations to post the caloric content of food items on menus, menu boards and promotional materials starting March 31, 2010. State lawmakers are also pondering menu-labeling legislation (source).
For more information about your location and this act visit this map to find the progress of this act in your area.
This act could change the fast food industry. It could even help change our obesity rate and help America change it’s perception of food.
Adria Ali
(CES, PES, CPT, BS)
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