The Massachusetts Public Health Council today approved rules requiring major chain restaurants to provide calorie information for the food that they sell.
Food establishments with 20 or more locations in Massachusetts will be required to provide that information at the point of purchase รขï either on the menu board or on the restaurant's menu. The new rules, which will take effect in November 2010, will cover approximately 50 chain restaurant companies, representing more than 5,000 locations in Massachusetts.
The measure is similar to laws passed recently in New York City and in California, and covers many of the same food establishments that have had to comply with calorie labeling requirements in those major restaurant markets.
"This is a major step in the right direction in fighting the obesity epidemic in our state," said Massachusetts Department of Public Health Commissioner John Auerbach. "With more than half of our adult population and one-third of our middle and high school students either overweight or obese, we need to do more to address this problem. We know that providing this information will help our residents make more informed choices."
The new rule will affect fast-food joints like McDonald's and Burger King, but also higher-end places like Starbucks and Panera Bread. Also affected by the change will be Dunkin' Donuts and any other restaurant chain with more than 20 outlets in the state.
Under the rule, restaurants must post "clear" and "conspicuous" calorie information on menus and menu boards.
Panera Bread, which has more than 20 restaurants in the state, would fall under the new guidelines as proposed.
Christine Cash, assistant manager at Panera in North Andover, said she thought it was "a good idea. If I went into a Burger King or McDonald's, or here, I'd want to know that information."
Currently, Panera does not post the calorie information on its menu boards, or anywhere else in their restaurants, but a three-ring binder under the counter contains information about everything served in the restaurant.
While Panera has a host of healthy food alternatives, Cash said if ordered by the state to post calorie information, "we'd have to come up with a system."
At nearby Burger King, a poster tacked up in a corner behind a table near the front door lists all of the dishes served at the fast-food eatery as well as their corresponding calorie counts.
Store manager Jane Solano said if Burger King had to post calorie details on the menu boards, it would be difficult because there's already so much information there. Plus, she said, the restaurant chain has already changed its menu options to offer much healthier fare than in the past.
Now, consumers can pick up a salad for $1 or "apple fries," strips of fresh apple that look like and are packaged the same as French fries.
Auerbach said the rules will help improve public health because people are more likely to choose healthier options when they are presented with calorie information, while the new law will also encourage restaurants to offer healthier choices.
"The benefit is improving the health of the residents of the state by giving them more information so that they can choose to make healthier decisions about the food," he said.
The revised regulations explicitly exclude grocery stores, markets and convenience stores. In addition, schools, health care facilities, assisted living centers, prisons and vending machines are excluded from the requirements. Guidelines regulating the size and font of the calorie information were removed, according to the proposal, because of the requirements that it be "clearly and conspicuously listed."
Drive-through menus would also be subject to the requirements and ll calorie counts would be required to be verified by a licensed nutritionist or dietician.
The regulations are more stringent than those already in effect in New York and California, where most residents say they support the calorie-counting requirements.
Customers at the North Andover, eateries, said they didn't think the rules were necessary.
"It will be a nuisance for the restaurants," said Ben Johnson, a Danvers resident picking up a breakfast sandwich at the North Andover Burger King this morning. "This is supposed to be fast food. You want to order something and leave. You're not going to take time to read about the calories on the menu."
Kevin Finnegan, a North Andover resident eating at Panera Bread, said the rules were just another case of over-regulation.
"Why impose requirements like this for these organizations?" he asked. "It's a waste of an establishment's profits. It's more regulation and we have enough regulation already."
Material from the State House News Service was used in this report.
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