Restaurants May Face Nutrition Requirements

If House Bill 601 passes, restaurant chains across the country will face new nutritional requirements.

Photo: govicinity, via sxc.hu

Currently, most fast food restaurants must display a board that shows the calories, trans fat, carbs, and sodium in each menu item. The new legislation would require sit-down chains with 15+ outlets to do something similar, probably in the form of menu changes instead of huge food boards.

Restaurants like Olive Garden, Red Lobster, Applebee’s, Red Robin, and Friday’s would be affected. It would mean that they’d have to print new menus, in most cases, which could be a huge expense for a restaurant with hundreds or even thousands of locations.

Many restaurants already print nutritional information, at least for some of their foods, on their menus. With the new bill, they’d have to print information for all of their menu items, however, not just the healthy selections. Patrons could be surprised at just how many calories are contained in some of their favorite bar and grill foods.

This bill is supported by Delegate Doyle Niemann, Senator David Harrington, CSPI Government Relations Manager Michelle Forman, and the American Diabetes Association. They’ll be holding a press conference on Tuesday, March 3 at the House Office Building in Annapolis to introduce the bill and talk about what it means for franchise location owners.