Read what you eat
King County’s requirements for food nutrition labeling apply to about 1,700 restaurants countywide (ones that are parts of chains with more than 15 locations) and will be in full effect by Jan. 1, 2009. Separate rules govern full-service and fast-food restaurants:
• At full-service establishments, nutrition information must be printed in one of five formats: On menus, in an appendix to the menu or in a supplemental menu, in a menu insert or at an electronic kiosk at each table.
• At fast-food establishments, the information initially must be posted inside only. Drive-throughs are exempt until Aug. 1, 2009.
By the new year, King County residents will be able to weigh the nutritional value of their dine-out meals.
Restaurants began the first of three phases Aug. 1 to introduce nutritional content to menus. The measure was set in place by the county’s Health Board and requires fast-food and full-service chain restaurants to provide customers nutritional information about menu items.
The reason is the “obesity epidemic,” said Matias Valenzuela, a board spokesman.
Restaurants here that are part of a chain of 15 or more establishments nationwide must comply with the regulation.
During the first phase, the Health Board and the Washington Restaurant Association (WRA) are assisting food establishments in finding ways to present the information in a manner that keeps costs manageable. Nutrition labeling could vary slightly from place to place, as establishments will have some degree of choice in how they make the information available to customers, said Trent House, WRA’s director of government affairs.
Menus can be redone to include nutritional value along with the food listing. Restaurants can also choose to provide a supplemental menu, insert or appendix featuring the information. Electronic kiosks at each table are another option.
“Each chain will tackle this individually,” House said.
Restaurant owners haven’t said much about how they plan to comply, House said.
The regulations are supported by the restaurant association. However, when they were first presented in July 2007, that wasn’t the case. “From the industry’s perspective,” they were “very rigid,” House said.
The Health Board didn’t initially plan on phasing in the requirements. Negotiations between the WRA and the board resulted in the gradual phasing in of the plan. This gives food establishments time to balance their costs and plan for how they will comply.
“It’s very expensive to update menus and menu boards,” House said. “We were told by some of our fast-food restaurants that it could be $5,000 to $10,000 to replace a menu board.”
The Health Board was willing to make its demands easier for restaurant owners. However, the board wasn’t willing to compromise its projected goal.
“We wanted to still maintain our priority,” Valenzuela said. “We want consumers to have information available to them at the point of ordering or before ordering.”
Providing customers with the information after they have already ordered or eaten the food isn’t good enough, he said. To make educated decisions on what they eat, they need to know the nutritional attributes and downfalls of the meal, Valenzuela said.
“In the past, it has been something people have had to ask for or look for,” he said. “It has been a challenge to find that information.”
A public education campaign will be launched as the second phase of menu labeling next January. The third phase will be completed in August 2009 and will introduce nutritional content to drive-through menus.
