It should be required by federal law...

thread is TL:DR

make your own food. problem solved.

I don't think it should be required. I don't eat at restaurants often enough for it to impact me. Even if I go somewhere that does have the info available, I don't choose what I order based on it. I go out to eat to enjoy the time with family and friends and to enjoy a good meal that I didn't have to prepare.

You seem to be assuming that in states where this was implemented that the nutritional information provided was accurate.

I assume when the Cheescake Factory claimed their blackened chicken sandwich had more calories than most bacon cheeseburgers, and more sodium than one should eat in a day, they weren't lying.

My question is specifically what mechanism..

It's spelled out in the link I provided before how California implemented this.

...To have printed "Nutrition Facts" for every menu item in every restaurant in the country. It should be required to have it available either in print, at the front of the restaurant, or online for anyone to read. Does anyone else get as frustrated as I do when they go out to eat?

Most places do have nutrition facts listed online. In the past year or so I've looked up anywhere I plan to go beforehand, and there have only been a handful of places that I couldn't find the nutrition info. listed for online. Those places were almost all little locally owned mom and pop type places so it didn't surprise me.

That being said, I think you're overreacting. Just my opinion, but I honestly think that if you go out and just think about the choices you make you'll be fine.

This would be an acceptable compromise. Have it online, then have a laminated copy or something in the restaurant. Plenty of Mom and Pop outfits print daily specials and do their own bookkeeping, if they can do that, they can work up a calorie counting menu. It doesn't even have to be %100 spot on (unlike the bookkeeping, at least in theory). Food packagers can be off a whopping %20, so give restaurants some leeway. Although I'm thinking %20 is too much leeway for any food seller.

Edit: For a little extra kindness, just require %90 of items to have calorie counts. That way if they have a new dish or three every now and then, they don't have to go to the extra time and cost of listing it. Just tell customers, 'sorry, with this menu item, you takes your chances!'

...To have printed "Nutrition Facts" for every menu item in every restaurant in the country. It should be required to have it available either in print, at the front of the restaurant, or online for anyone to read. Does anyone else get as frustrated as I do when they go out to eat?

I think they should because a lot of people have allergies to things or may have illnesses where they NEED to know what they are putting into their bodies, and if they can't find out that information they have limited choices of where they can go out, and may miss out on fun family dinners if they can't eat at that restaurant.

Yes, I do have allergies - lots of them, not just the shellfish & Celiac disease, but eggs, kale, collard & mustard greens and mushrooms and coconut and more. I do my own research and I ask my own questions because it's MY RESPONSIBILITY, not the restaruant's or the government's to make sure that I know. If it were required by law, I'd STILL ask because the memory of the first reaction to King Crab legs stays with me and always will. I was suffocating and I thought I would die. I could feel my throat swelling closed. That's something beyond unpleasant. If all of the rest of my family wants to eat somewhere that I can't, then I go with them, drink water and be social. I could miss out on family dinners, but I choose to go and not eat. My choices are limited by my physiology, not by the availability of information. (And by the way, the first question for family dinners is "can Sis eat there?" because my family cares enough to consider my needs before their wants - except for my MIL, and she gets out voted.)

...To have printed "Nutrition Facts" for every menu item in every restaurant in the country. It should be required to have it available either in print, at the front of the restaurant, or online for anyone to read. Does anyone else get as frustrated as I do when they go out to eat?

I think they should because a lot of people have allergies to things or may have illnesses where they NEED to know what they are putting into their bodies, and if they can't find out that information they have limited choices of where they can go out, and may miss out on fun family dinners if they can't eat at that restaurant.

If you're allergic to something you should always inform that nice server who takes your order. They then go tell the chef who makes sure everyone knows so you don't go into anaphylactic shock in the restaurant. Just because your allergy isn't in the dish you ordered there is this thing called cross contamination.

You would be surprised how often servers don't even know what is in something, and they can act snotty sometimes if you ask them to check. I know it doesn't hurt to ask but yeah... if they don't have the ingredients or nutrition info there the cook may not even know all of the ingredients in something if it wasn't freshly made in house that day.

To publish the calorie counts the larger restaurants have them reviewed by laboratory. They unfortunately can not just look up the ingredients and then print them out. They have to show that they are accurate based on the methods of cooking, etc. That is why it is so expensive for smaller businesses. I am not sure what all the regulations are on it. But restaurants that try to provide us valuable information should be rewarded with our business. I think the requirements vary state to state.

I'd like it, but I doubt it will happen.
Ironically the only places around here with such information available is McDonalds, Burger King, KFC etc.

You seem to be assuming that in states where this was implemented that the nutritional information provided was accurate.

I assume when the Cheescake Factory claimed their blackened chicken sandwich had more calories than most bacon cheeseburgers, and more sodium than one should eat in a day, they weren't lying.

My question is specifically what mechanism..

It's spelled out in the link I provided before how California implemented this.

From the pdf you provided under section C Enforcement subsection C1.

"Q: Will local enforcement agencies check for accuracy of the nutritional
information?
A: Under the menu labeling law, local enforcement agencies will verify that
the requisite information is provided per the menu labeling law. They will not
be required to test for accuracy of the information. (i.e., they will check if a
chain has the calories"

So I guess the answer is they have no enforcement policy in place for accuracy which is what I asked about. Would you agree?

Did you actually read this?

How about subsection C2:

C2. Q. What if a local enforcement agency receives a complaint regarding the
accuracy of the nutritional disclosure? (e.g., Customer complains that a menu
says the item has 1000 calories and after the customer had the item tested, it
was discovered that the item has 1500 calories)
A. No enforcement mechanism is provided under the menu labeling law for
local enforcement agencies to check for accuracy.


Not to mention the law you cited only applies to chain restaurants and the authorities have no capability of enforcing it elsewhere according to subsection C4

C4. Q: Will local enforcement agencies regulate food facilities that do not fall under
the menu labeling law but that voluntarily provide nutritional information?
A: No. If a food facility does not meet the definition of a chain food facility
under the menu labeling law then they will not be regulated by the local
enforcement agencies.


Seriously, did you think they were actually going to be able to enforce accuracy? How? Police with bomb calorimeters?

So I reiterate my question. By what mechanism do you envision this law being enforced? By what means will accuracy of the nutritional information be judged? What is to prevent a restaurant from complying to the law by literally just guessing their dishes calorie values?

To publish the calorie counts the larger restaurants have them reviewed by laboratory. They unfortunately can not just look up the ingredients and then print them out. They have to show that they are accurate based on the methods of cooking, etc. That is why it is so expensive for smaller businesses. I am not sure what all the regulations are on it. But restaurants that try to provide us valuable information should be rewarded with our business. I think the requirements vary state to state.

If this is the case then I agree, small businesses must be protected. Any business not making a million or more in profit a year should be exempt.

But I'm confused, why can packagers of foods be off by %20 if it's so precise?

Source:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/13/opinion/calorie-detective.html?_r=0

Edit: Better source

http://www.ktvu.com/news/news/special-reports/special-food-labels/nXsJZ/

The government only requires nutritional facts to fall within a range of the actual amount. The real number can be up to 20 percent more.