WASHINGTON – It’s been nearly two years since New York City mandated that fast-food restaurants post calorie information on menus, and a recent study by the city has found evidence that it is changing consumer habits, Reuters reports. An earlier independent study had reported the law had no effect on customers.
Preliminary data from the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene study, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, showed that customers purchased lower-calorie food at nine of the 13 fast-food and coffee chains surveyed. Researchers discovered statistically noteworthy decreases at Au Bon Pain, KFC, McDonald’s and Starbucks. Just over half of fast-food customers (56 percent) said they had noticed the calorie data.
New York City’s system has become a model for other municipalities and states considering menu-labeling laws. Several bills also have been introduced in Congress for a federal menu labeling law. Health advocates view menu labeling as an effective way to combat obesity.
“Dietary change is likely to come gradually; it will start with consumers interested in making informed, healthy eating decisions and we hope industry will respond by offering more healthier choices and appropriate portion sizes,” said Lynn Silver, assistant commissioner for New York’s Bureau of Chronic Disease Prevention and Control.
The study also reported that restaurant marketing could overcome calorie posting. For example, Subway promotes its menu as healthy and good for losing weight. The chain had caloric info on some of its menus before 2008. However, the study period overlapped a promotional campaign for larger foot-long sandwiches, thus raising the calorie count for Subway orders.
For more on menu labeling in convenience stores, see the April 2009 NACS Magazine article “Tight Fit.”