Should Restaurants be Required to Disclose Nutritional Info?

those bastages!

OP, you should totally post a thread on MFP ranting about this issue.

oh wait...

nvm. :embarassed:

Didn't we just have this talk?

I'm cooking most of my own food, and not counting on restaurants to be accurate, even when they provide calories. When I do eat at restaurants (like today for lunch) I do my best to approximate and then add a bit for good measure.

You can't legislate willpower. We need the government doing government work, not playing nanny.

If you've ever seen a commercial kitchen in action you know those guys are not using measuring cups and teaspoons when they pump out 220 individual meals in four hours. So the only way to ensure accuracy would be to have all the meals pre packaged. Which somewhat defeats the purpose of going out for a nice meal. Thanks, but I'll pass. Give me the Mona Lisas of the culinary world and I'll deal with my own calories. You can keep the Wal-Mart art.

I don't go out to eat that much, but when I do, most of the places we go have the info available on their website. If you are going to an all-out, gourmet place, consider it an indulgence, guesstimate and call it good.

If you've ever seen a commercial kitchen in action you know those guys are not using measuring cups and teaspoons when they pump out 220 individual meals in four hours. So the only way to ensure accuracy would be to have all the meals pre packaged. Which somewhat defeats the purpose of going out for a nice meal. Thanks, but I'll pass. Give me the Mona Lisas of the culinary world and I'll deal with my own calories. You can keep the Wal-Mart art.

This weekend is the opening of our seasonal Bistro and spent most of yesterday and today going from farm to farm not to mention Costco, bulk barn and Loblaws. Tomorrow morning I'll trim and portion ribeyes and break down a lamb and still haven't made up my mind on a few sauces, will I leave the skin on the pickerel, how much fat is lost in a 12 hour smoke for pork belly.......blah, blah, blah.........when am I going to have time to figure out the nutritional information and try and make a profit for a restaurant that goes balls to the wall for 16 weeks, then comes to a grinding halt......not to mention, my customer base looks at the nutrition profile as a non issue.........

You have to be responsible for you. Use common sense. Don't expect others to use common sense for you.

If you've ever seen a commercial kitchen in action you know those guys are not using measuring cups and teaspoons when they pump out 220 individual meals in four hours. So the only way to ensure accuracy would be to have all the meals pre packaged. Which somewhat defeats the purpose of going out for a nice meal. Thanks, but I'll pass. Give me the Mona Lisas of the culinary world and I'll deal with my own calories. You can keep the Wal-Mart art.

This weekend is the opening of our seasonal Bistro and spent most of yesterday and today going from farm to farm not to mention Costco, bulk barn and Loblaws. Tomorrow morning I'll trim and portion ribeyes and break down a lamb and still haven't made up my mind on a few sauces, will I leave the skin on the pickerel, how much fat is lost in a 12 hour smoke for pork belly.......blah, blah, blah.........when am I going to have time to figure out the nutritional information and try and make a profit for a restaurant that goes balls to the wall for 16 weeks, then comes to a grinding halt......not to mention, my customer base looks at the nutrition profile as a non issue.........

Good answer... following what Derp said. I agree. The places I am talking about are chain restaurants though. They aren't grabbing awesome ingredients from local farmers and winging recipes on a daily basis. To turn a profit, they have to have ingredients well accounted for. High end restaurant experiences like the one you mention charge higher prices and are less concerned about quantity so much as they are concerned with quality. The chain restaurants, however, know the recipes. They know the ingredients. They could create a nutritional guide like so many other places do, but they choose not to for competitive reasons, reasons, by the way, that have nothing to do with what has been stated thus far.

Regardless, I am against forcing companies to do this. It would be nice though... as one poster said, McCindy I believe, I guess I should just use my brain and go to places that do publish nutritional information.

Telling people what and how much is in their food hasn't seemed to be very successful to date. Brazil's new guidlines might be a better solution imo.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health-and-fitness/health/brazil-takes-an-unambiguous-new-approach-to-fighting-fat/article17496796/

Heck no. How can you take personal responsibility for yourself if you know how many calories are in your food? Take your spoiled, lazy American butt to a laboratory and analyze it yourself! Slobs.

Why you gotta hate? It's not my fault you're poor.

Dearie, I'm too poor to eat out most of the time. But being the America loving, capitalist patriot I am *snicker*, I worry for our wealthier, traveling business people. It's hard for America to flex its capitalist sinews when so many of our best and brightest are overweight and lethargic. If they had the proper nutrition information, they could make better choices for where to go and what to order during their freedom-inspiring power lunches.

The discussion, while interesting, is digressing. Nutrition labels are not going to solve obesity. The counterpoint to nutrition labels, Brazil's proposal, also will not help with obesity. Government cannot regulate obesity out of existence... and that never was the debate.

The debate centered around a very simple to understand hypothesis:

If the SEC can force financial records to be divulged from publically traded companies, then can a government bureau force food companies to divulge nutritional information?

While I appreciate those of you recommending eating at home, it really has nothing to do with the OP.

All joking around and snark aside, this is a calorie counting website. It could not exist if laws had not long ago required manufacturers to put nutrition labels on foods we buy from the grocery store. This law is merely an extension of that. It bewilders me that so many people who use this site to reach a healthy weight and stay that weight are against it. And with that, I'll let it rest.

Good answer... following what Derp said. I agree. The places I am talking about are chain restaurants though. They aren't grabbing awesome ingredients from local farmers and winging recipes on a daily basis. To turn a profit, they have to have ingredients well accounted for. High end restaurant experiences like the one you mention charge higher prices and are less concerned about quantity so much as they are concerned with quality. The chain restaurants, however, know the recipes. They know the ingredients. They could create a nutritional guide like so many other places do, but they choose not to for competitive reasons, reasons, by the way, that have nothing to do with what has been stated thus far.

Regardless, I am against forcing companies to do this. It would be nice though... as one poster said, McCindy I believe, I guess I should just use my brain and go to places that do publish nutritional information.

Yes, my view is similar to yours (including "it would be nice," from a personal perspective), except that although I don't much think it would help from a public policy POV, I am not all that bothered by laws that require chain restaurants (defined as those with 20 or more locations in the current law on this topic) to provide nutrition information. I am irritated by the idea that restaurants like those neanderthin is talking about are playing hide the ball because they don't bother calculating calories. Perhaps those who would demand it would also come over to my house for dinner and complain that I don't know precisely the calorie count of the food I made.

What I don't understand in this discussion is why people think they can't obtain this information if they want it by just choosing one of the numerous restaurants that have it. Yes, also many restaurants (local ones) don't have it, but most chains do, if people want it more will, and--making the whole thing moot--there is a law on the books that is going to require the information to be provided for chains with more than 20 locations anyway. So what else is being demanded that's supposed to make a difference? I hardly think it's asking too much to say that people who care about this should exercise the power of consumer choice, make a decision about where to go based on it, and tell the restaurants why you do or don't eat there.

If the SEC can force financial records to be divulged from publically traded companies, then can a government bureau force food companies to divulge nutritional information?

Not a very good analogy, for one. For two, how well are those SEC regulations working out for the American public?

For three, if you're talking about chains, what chain doesn't have nutritional info? If you're interested in pursuing this, I recommend you weigh in on the current proposed FDA changes:

http://www.fda.gov/Food/IngredientsPackagingLabeling/LabelingNutrition/ucm248731.htm

I guess it is everyone's right to be informed and/or educated about nutritional info starting with fast foods,ending with fine restaurants.

Restaurants should : list or have available a list of all ingredients in a dish.

Restaurants shouldn't : have to try to list the caloric count and nutritional info of everything they produce.

Food in of itself is not harmful or dangerous to the public. The over consumption of it might possibly be, and even that can be mitigated by exercise. Therefore the government really has no place stepping in trying to legislate it.

People need to stop trying to pass the buck and take responsibility for themselves. It is not the governments responsibility to keep you from getting fat, it's yours.