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Calorie counts to be added to restaurant food menus

  • 05-07-2012 12:30pm
    #1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 27,857 ✭✭✭✭Dave!


    I didn't see any mention of this on Boards yet, though it's been in the news the last couple of days... What do we think of this initiative?

    It presents a few logistical problems for restaurants that e.g. decide their menus on the morning, depending on the fresh ingredients they get. It makes a bit more sense when it's in the likes of chippers and other fast-food places, although I'm not sure the obese people are the ones who would pay any attention to the calories -- it'd be the people who are health-conscious already. It might make it easier for these people to monitor their intake though.

    But for some of the upmarket restaurants, how often would a person go to one of these? Once or twice a month? They're not contributing much to obesity, it's the daily meals that make the difference.
    Independent.ie
    Health Minister James O’Reilly gives firms six months to put calorie labels on food
    By Mark O’Regan
    Wednesday July 04 2012

    FOOD businesses have six months to get in shape and introduce calorie menu labelling on a voluntary basis - or else face the introduction of a compulsory scheme.

    Minister for Health James Reilly has backed a call by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland for the introduction by food businesses to clearly show the calorie content of meals and portions they serve.

    The authority recommends a ‘transitional period’ so that the scheme be introduced on a voluntary basis at first to allow businesses to develop the necessary technical tools to help the industry adjust to the change.

    A new report published yesterday by the Authority shows 96pc of people support the introduction of calorie menus in all food outlets. A further 89pc say the calorie content should be clearly displayed beside the food and drink items on the menu. Some 84pc of consumers say labelling should also apply to alcoholic drinks.

    “This is an issue I feel very strongly about and one I’d like to see come in by way of voluntary initiatives on behalf of the industry,” Minister Reilly said yesterday.

    “I’ve met with some of the major chains such as McDonalds and Subway and they have already engaged with this process but sadly others have not. What are we afraid of that we don’t want to put the calorie content up. I want to empower people to make the right choice; we’re not about forcing people to eat differently, it’s about allowing them to make an informed decision.”

    - Mark O’Regan


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Comments

  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,753 ✭✭✭davet82


    I hope they dont do this, ignorance is bliss :)


  • Registered Users Posts: 28,041 ✭✭✭✭drunkmonkey


    Its a daft law created by a fatty for fatty's. Fatty shouldn't be allowed to be minister for health. That's 2 obese health ministers in a row, madness.


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,242 ✭✭✭Steven81


    The times people go to a restaurant they wouldnt want to be conscious of what calories they are going to eat, on a daily basis good idea though


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 4,300 ✭✭✭HazDanz


    At least it's a start. Obesity is going to cripple this nation sooner rather than later so it's nice to see some initiative to come in which will allow people to be more conscious of what they are putting into their mouths.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 10,808 ✭✭✭✭chin_grin


    davet82 wrote: »
    I hope they dont this, ignorance is bliss :)

    You accidentally a word there! :pac:

    Terrible idea as those who go to restaurants are deciding to treat themselves anyway, not feel guilty for getting a steak over the salad.

    Anyway I don't think people pay any attention to these counts at all, nor do they know what their recommended calorific intake would be day to day or what they would need to do to work that off.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 6,719 ✭✭✭RobbieTheRobber


    Yeah now i can play calorie top trumps everytime I go for a meal with friends or family.


    Whats that 800 calories in your main, well my starter has that many Winner winner you pay for dinner.


  • Registered Users Posts: 25,042 ✭✭✭✭My name is URL


    Seems a bit stupid to me. It's all well and good including calorie counts on the likes of McDonalds menus, which are rarely changed.. but it would be very difficult for a restaurant that alters its menu every few days or weeks.

    Making it even more difficult for businesses to operate at a time when many are already struggling to do so.. Well played Ireland


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 10,808 ✭✭✭✭chin_grin


    Seems a bit stupid to me. It's all well and good including calorie counts on the likes of McDonalds menus, which are rarely changed.. but it would be very difficult for a restaurant that alters its menu every few days or weeks.

    Won't somebody please think of the admin costs!


  • Registered Users Posts: 16,500 ✭✭✭✭DEFTLEFTHAND


    James needs to follow these guidelines carefully himself. He's quite a tubby chappy.

    Over at Labour something has to be done with Pat Rabbitte. He has an enormous gullet, kind of like what you'd see on a frog. Must be all that hot air building up.


  • Registered Users Posts: 14,598 ✭✭✭✭prinz


    Yeah I think it's a good idea, and I'd definitely pay attention to it tbh when eating out.

    However I can see a problem for restaurants depending on the catch of the day in sea food etc, but it shouldn't really present a major obstacle, I'm sure estimates would do, say x weight of a certain variety of fish is whatever etc.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 14,598 ✭✭✭✭prinz


    Making it even more difficult for businesses to operate at a time when many are already struggling to do so.. Well played Ireland

    In fairness the same line was trotted out by publicans when the smoking ban was coming in, and tbh IMO it was a resounding success. I am happier now going to the pub.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,172 ✭✭✭FizzleSticks


    This post has been deleted.


  • Registered Users Posts: 2,808 ✭✭✭Gone Drinking


    For cafes/chippers/fast food places - Yes, people frequent these the most and that's probably the cause of a lot of obesity

    For decent restaurants - No, if you go to a restaurant, its usually once a month or so and its to pig out.

    Thats my opinion at least :pac:


  • Registered Users Posts: 68,317 ✭✭✭✭seamus


    Seems a bit stupid to me. It's all well and good including calorie counts on the likes of McDonalds menus, which are rarely changed.. but it would be very difficult for a restaurant that alters its menu every few days or weeks.
    This is nonsense. Five minutes of googling and you can come to a reasonable estimate for any dish. If someone is incapable of this basic modern skill, then screw them.

    This seems to be the main argument from restaurant owners, but it hold no water. Chefs are well capable of estimating the content of their dishes - it's an essential part of pricing them - so applying the same skills to calorie estimation is easy.

    It's a matter of estimation/averaging, you don't have to break out a science lab and start making measurements.

    As for guilt-free, not knowing the content of the dish doesn't mean the calories go away. If you know that you shouldn't be eating it, but you do anyway, then you're not really eating guilt-free, are you?

    If this measure does occasionally make someone choose the steak over the salad because the numbers make them feel guilty, then great.

    Other fun arguments were that, "Sure don't people already kinda know what they're eating anyway? What's the point in this". No, they don't. People really haven't a fncking clue what they're eating and think a Caesar salad is good for you because it contains the word salad and a steak is bad for your because it's red meat.

    It's not any kind of solution on its own of course. It needs to be supplemented with public information campaigns and dietary education in schools.

    If anything this could help restaurant businesses because people might feel more inclined to go out for dinner regularly if they can get dishes that are tasty but not loaded with calories, and businesses can slice ingredients off dishes to reduce the calorie count while maintaining the same price.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 20,739 ✭✭✭✭starbelgrade


    James needs to follow these guidelines carefully himself. He's quite a tubby chappy.

    Over at Labour something has to be done with Pat Rabbitte. He has an enormous gullet, kind of like what you'd see on a frog. Must be all that hot air building up.

    The Dail is full of fat bastards who think that Nanny Stating is the key to everything. The simple answer to the obesity problem is twofold - 1. Education and 2. better support and subsidies for locally produced and non-processed foods.

    When I eat in a restaurant, I honestly don't care about the calorie content of the food. I eat healthily & a meal out is a treat. All this serves to do is create red tape in an attempt to make us look "progressive".

    If the politicians really cared about the health of the nation, then a making a start on ending the cycle of food poverty would be a huge step.

    And losing a few pounds themselves would be a definite start to making an impression as being that my local bistro needs to show the calorie content of their meals is a tad rich coming from a fat cunt in a suit with too much time & power in his hands.


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,778 ✭✭✭sebastianlieken


    This is a stupid and half witted thing to do. What about people who suffer anorexia or bolemia? It's going to be even tougher on them as their sicknesses usually involve rigorous and obsessive calorie counting.


  • Registered Users Posts: 43,017 ✭✭✭✭SEPT 23 1989


    More red tape for business designed by people who have never generated a cent in their lives


  • Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 90,537 Mod ✭✭✭✭Capt'n Midnight


    Does this mean restaurants will have to weigh portions ?

    What's the story with carverys / places that give you seconds ?


    NB: to loose 1 Lb of weight you need to reduce your intake / burn off 3,600 calories.


  • Registered Users Posts: 25,042 ✭✭✭✭My name is URL


    seamus wrote: »
    This is nonsense. Five minutes of googling and you can come to a reasonable estimate for any dish. If someone is incapable of this basic modern skill, then screw them.

    In that case, why can't people just inform themselves before eating out or ordering a meal. It shouldn't need to be legislated for. If some dope doesn't know what a healthy diet entails then screw them. Others shouldn't be punished for their ignorance and/or sheer laziness. The state shouldn't be charged with holding your hand through life.. this kind of thing erodes personal responsibility rather than enhance it.


  • Registered Users Posts: 14,598 ✭✭✭✭prinz


    When I eat in a restaurant, I honestly don't care about the calorie content of the food. I eat healthily & a meal out is a treat..

    Then having the calorie content on the menu/display won't make a blind bit of difference to you. Superduper. However for people who are watching calorie intake it could make all the difference and lead to them choosing one restaurant over another. Tbh if I had a choice of two places to eat out and one published calorie info and one didn't, I'd go to the one with, even if I was going to eat the same exact food.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 22,080 ✭✭✭✭Big Nasty


    They would be better off investing in general food education.

    Do you think the woman feeding her kids processed foods doused in salt every night has a clue what she's actually doing to her children?


  • Registered Users Posts: 14,598 ✭✭✭✭prinz


    In that case, why can't people just inform themselves before eating out or ordering a meal. It shouldn't need to be legislated for. If some dope doesn't know what a healthy diet entails then screw them. Others shouldn't be punished for their ignorance and/or sheer laziness. The state shouldn't be charged with holding your hand through life.. this kind of thing erodes personal responsibility rather than enhance it.

    No need then for anti-smoking campaigns, drink aware campaigns, seat belts, safe driving, etc etc etc.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 4,431 ✭✭✭M cebee


    it's silly nanny state nonsense


  • Registered Users Posts: 6,634 ✭✭✭flutered


    them over obese politicans need to lead by example, would it not be easier to ask the hotels to remove salt and cream from the menus, most of them obese massive pension awaiting power fueled idiots are not in touch with reality


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,249 ✭✭✭Scioch


    Good to know these things, you should always have some idea of what you are eating regardless of how often you eat it.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,876 ✭✭✭Spread


    Lots of the restaurants out here (even fast food joints) have the figures on the menus or on the under-plate or coaster. For people who eat out a lot, either by choice or because of work demands, it is a handy way of keeping tabs on the calorie count entering your system. And just like other initiatives, early suspicion will give way to a more enlightened, er, waistline. :D


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 20,739 ✭✭✭✭starbelgrade


    prinz wrote: »
    Then having the calorie content on the menu/display won't make a blind bit of difference to you. Superduper. However for people who are watching calorie intake it could make all the difference and lead to them choosing one restaurant over another. Tbh if I had a choice of two places to eat out and one published calorie info and one didn't, I'd go to the one with, even if I was going to eat the same exact food.

    I have no issue with restaurants publishing their calorie content. As you point out, it may even have a benefit to their trade.

    I do however, have an issue with government forcing restaurants to do this via legislation. In terms of trying to help people eat more healthily it is probably the least most effective method of trying to achieve this.

    For most people, eating out is not something they do on a daily basis, so what you eat in a restaurant has a negligible effect on your diet and health. The real issue with obesity is what people eat at home and what they snack on.

    The calorie content is published on almost every food you buy in a shop & supermarket, yet people are still overweight. It's not an issue of not having the information readily to hand - it's either an issue of people not caring enough about their own welfare to do anything about it, or one of being caught in the "food poverty" trap.

    For the former, calorie counting menus will have no effect and the latter really don't really get to eat out in restaurants much anyway. To the rest, it will have little or no effect.

    As I said, this proposed legislation will have as much effect on people's health as pissing in the wind.


  • Registered Users Posts: 5,933 ✭✭✭Logical Fallacy


    Seems a bit stupid to me. It's all well and good including calorie counts on the likes of McDonalds menus, which are rarely changed.. but it would be very difficult for a restaurant that alters its menu every few days or weeks.

    Making it even more difficult for businesses to operate at a time when many are already struggling to do so.. Well played Ireland

    lol, no it wouldn't. It's really easy to work out the calories of any meal. It's even easier if you are building that meal from scratch, as all decent restaurants would. A mate of mine is head chef of a very nice restaurant in Dublin and has described it as an extra 20 minutes work whenever they change the menu.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 4,436 ✭✭✭c_man


    Creating needless overheads for businesses so that hefty gov ministers can show they're "doing something about the obesity epidemic".

    I would have thought that they could set a good example ala Enda, but nah.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 5,933 ✭✭✭Logical Fallacy


    c_man wrote: »
    Creating needless overheads for businesses so that hefty gov ministers can show they're "doing something about the obesity epidemic".

    I would have thought that they could set a good example ala Enda, but nah.

    What overhead is involved? Extra ink to print the calorie count on the menu?


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