Restaurant Industry supports voluntary nutrition disclosure

Most of you have probably heard about the furor over the trans-fat ban instituted by New York City. What you may not know is that the legislation also requires certain restaurants to disclose the nutritional information of their menu items right on the menu boards ! In the same size font! Imagine walking into a McD's and having to navigate a menu board almost twice the size they have now! Anyway, enough with the shock value and the exclamation marks!!! Here's an article from the LA Times about the issue.

Okay, now you are scaring me

First it was bariatric surgery, now it is a nasal spray to curb your appetite. In their never ending quest to increase profits, yet another pharamceutical company is testing an anti-obesity drug. This time it is a pill that promises to curb appetites by blocking the senses of smell and taste. This is getting a little creepy for me, but I am heartened by what a spokesman for the Obesity Action Coalition had to say. Check out the full article.

The Trans Fat gauntlet has been thrown

For those of you interested in the trans fat ban in New York City, here is an interesting article. As always, Nutricate believes that restaurants and consumers should be given a choice of how to disclose their information. We provide operators with a low cost, high impact alternative to posting information on message boards or brochures. If you are reading this, you can help - The next time you are in a fast food restaurant, ask them why they aren't using the Nutricate Receipt. Then ask them to go to our website or give us a call.

Chow Down

A quick post to share a website that all food lovers and food critics might find interesting. Check out www.chow.com. And who said all things food don't play an important part in our society?

County looking at fast food labeling

Alameda County, CA, is considering a requirement to have all fast food restaurants with 10 or more units display nutritional information on menu boards and menus. While this is a step in the right direction, it can be onerous on the restaurants, which will need to print new menus, or create new menu boards. Why not print the information directly on the receipts? Restaurants already have printers, and their staff is already trained to print receipts and hand them to customers. Another example of how Nutricate can help meet policy and public demand, yet not affect a restaurant chain's existing operations.

Exercise alone won't prevent childhood obesity

An interesting piece on some British research. I tend not to think of British kids as being obese, but it truly is a worldwide issue. According to the research, while exercise helps, focus on your kid's diet is equally important.

Aw, Mom - Not that restaurant again tonight!

Recent studies show that Americans are eating out even more that before, regardless of the economy or their pocketbook. One reason cited is the lack of time to prepare meals at home, and the relatively cheap options available. So what does that mean for all of us - Expanding Waistlines!! Research shows that portion sizes are on the rise, depsite greater awareness of weight-related illnesses and studies suggesting that eating out is a major cause of obesity. Read more here.

Time for another shameless plug for the Nutricate Receipt - With more people eating out more, doesn't it make sense to provide them with nutritional information about their meals so that they can manage their diet, their exercise and their portion sizes appropriately? The easiest (and quickest) way to do this is to print the information directly on their receipts.

Every little bite counts.....

I just came across a very interesting look at how many large food service providers handle the process of counting and managing nutritional information for an enormous number of menu items. This article is courtesy of the Restaurant and Institutions magazine.

Here's a pertinent soundbite - "Calculating calorie counts and fat and vitamin contents of a dish no longer suffices. Nutrition analysis and reporting now goes much deeper, requiring many operators to develop sophisticated databases and online directories of nutrients for all ingredients...."


Click here for the whole article.