Do stores have to supply nutritional information?

hgycta

Hi, I am in love with this ice cream shop I live near, which is located on a very established farm. It is quite popular in my area, however whenever I go there I have no idea how many calories I am consuming! I have tried to email them, but I never get a response. Recently I have called them, and asked if they had nutritional information available.
They sounded horrified by this request.
Reluctantly, the store owner confessed that the nutrition was in fact available, although she hated giving it out because she "didn't want people to know how fattening it was."
After trying to comfort her in the concept that I wasn't expecting it to be healthy by any means, she eventually gave me a number. 320 calories for 4 fl oz. She asked if I needed the calories from fat too, in which I responded with "no", sensing her reluctance.
I asked her what flavor this was for, in which she again responded with great unwillingness, "oh... well that was actually just for the base..." -.-
I asked her if she could give me the calories for the Cookies & Cream flavor, in which she then got defensive about and refused to help me out anymore. "Well, the nutrition for 2 cookies is 160 calories, I use a whole container, you can do the math, just estimate, it's not good for you."
As someone who is trying to maintain their weight, I know ice cream is unhealthy, but when I'm craving it I try to fit it into my caloric requirement, so I don't HAVE to ruin my progress just to enjoy some frozen dairy.
However, I knew she wouldn't understand that, so I just told her I was trying to gain weight... hoping she'd relax with the numbers.
Nope.
Although she did suggest some of the highest calorie flavors.

Which brings me to this: If a company had nutritional information available, are they required to share it with the public? They have a website I feel they should have it posted on, but they refuse to do so.
I don't know, I was just stunned more than anything. I've never had so much difficulty finding out something so basic.

Morgaath

Article about it in the US:
"Most all restaurants are not yet required to provide calorie and nutrition information to their diners. However, since 2010, fast food establishments with more than 20 branches are required to post this information so that it is readily available for customers. Individual retail establishments and small chain eateries are as yet exempt from this legislation."
Click the link for more info
http://www.restaurants.com/blog/are-restaurants-required-to-provide-calorie-or-nutrition-info/#.UkHq2NJJPSk

DaddieCat

Laws on this vary from state to state and country to county. In most restaurants it's not mandatory until they reach a certain number of venues. In most stores it's not necessary unless they have a certain dollar value of sales from those departments. Note that this info is local to where I am, but in most cases, the answer seems to be no... unless certain criteria are met.

Morgaath

Given that any place that makes it's own food should have a clue as to how much of what they put in to it, you would think they could come up with the info quite easily.
I seem to be able to for anything I make at home, so why can't they? If they have to, give us a range if it is a question of say how much oil went in the pan, or whatever it is they are eyeballing rather than measuring.

lucan07

The answer may be to ask and state at the same time that without the information you and your friends will no longer be able to remain customers of the establishment. They then have a choice and so do you.

bcattoes

She may have thought you were a reporter or something and that made her paranoid. But geez, could it possibly be worse than Haagen Daz or Ben & Jerry's?? Putting nutrtiion on their labels hasn't seemed to hurt business much.

cwolfman13

It is not required unless the venue is of a certain size. Generally speaking, local establishments are not required to provide this information. Also, not as easy as it sounds...expensive and time consuming and potential liability issues if estimates are too far off.

hgycta

Thanks everyone for your help! It's such a shame that getting an estimate on calories for local businesses is such a difficult task, I'd love to support them more but it's just so hard in times like these haha