6 April 2011

Greens push kilojoule counts on large fast food outlets

| johnboy
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The Greens’ Amanda Bresnan has announced that she has tabled a “Fast Food Information Bill”:

Major fast food outlets would be required to display the energy (in kilojoules) content of food products on menu boards under new laws proposed by ACT Greens Health spokesperson, Amanda Bresnan MLA.

“People are eating out more often, so it is more important to have clear information about how much energy is in the food,” Ms Bresnan said.

“More than half of the ACT population is overweight, which can cause a range of major health problems, many fatal. There is speculation that we may see an unprecedented decrease in life expectancies if something isn’t done to reverse the obesity epidemic.”

The scheme will target large fast food chains and will apply to those businesses which have seven or more outlets in the ACT, or 50 or more in Australia.“Where the scheme has been implemented in New York and California, studies have shown that some fast food outlets changed the ingredients of their food products to reduce the energy content.

“NSW already has similar laws for fast food outlets to display the kilojoule content in at least the same font size as the price on each of their food items. This bill will bring the ACT in-line with its neighbour and looks to build on the NSW model.

“My legislation also proposes that the menu board must state that ‘recommended average daily energy intake is 8,700 kJ’.

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Pointless, gesturing, finger-wagging politics at its best, or worst.

Shock! Horror! People don’t go to eat out in search of ways to cut calories:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/05/26/3227388.htm?section=justin

“We found only 2.5 per cent of customers are actually choosing these options,” she said.

“I think a lot of people don’t actually go to fast food chains with the intention of actually choosing a health food.”

When they make all restaurants (including the high-end foodies’ favourites) do this, I will start to believe that it has something to do with public health and is not about lecturing and hectoring, in search of a higher public profile.

forget about posting the info on the board, just put it on a pamphlet available at the counter for those who are interested and stop nannying the rest of us.

Keijidosha said :

LSWCHP said :

I love these stories.

I’m a tall lean bloke from a family with a long history of producing tall lean blokes. My problem is that I need to try really hard to put weight on, so I can pig out on grease bombs, chips, coke, cake, beer etc for weeks at a time and not gain an ounce.

Meanwhile, some of my mates gain flab if they walk past a Maccas. Hahahahahaha…..

Enjoy your high cholesterol, heart disease, diabetes and all the other lovely things that go along with a high-fat, high-sugar diet… and no, you don’t need to be fat to suffer any of these conditions.

Don’t go leaping to conclusions dude.

I’m 49. I don’t smoke. I drink alcohol moderately. I donate blood every 3 months and also have regular physical checkups at my GP. I exercise at the gym or elsewhere 4 nights per week. I have bugger-all cholesterol, my blood sugar is spot on, BP is generally around 118/70, resting heart rate is in the high 50’s and my BMI was 22.5 last time I calculated it. I just had the finger up my bum at the GP, and my PSA is non-existent.

Overall, I think I’m in pretty good shape for an almost senior citizen, so if I feel like dining under the golden arches or having a few more beers than I should…well…I’m not gonna stress about it. I am going to continue feeling smug about my genetic heritage though. It’s one of the few blessings I have.

What Housebound said.

The ACT Greens seem pretty keen to run every aspect of our lives at present.

x 2 (3??)

Green is the new red. Telling people how they ought to live is the height of arrogance, and taxing them to fund these crazy schemes is even worse.

LSWCHP said :

I love these stories.

I’m a tall lean bloke from a family with a long history of producing tall lean blokes. My problem is that I need to try really hard to put weight on, so I can pig out on grease bombs, chips, coke, cake, beer etc for weeks at a time and not gain an ounce.

Meanwhile, some of my mates gain flab if they walk past a Maccas. Hahahahahaha…..

Enjoy your high cholesterol, heart disease, diabetes and all the other lovely things that go along with a high-fat, high-sugar diet… and no, you don’t need to be fat to suffer any of these conditions.

Well, it’s all pretty awful. You eat that stuff when you want something awful. No one goes to maccas for a health kick.

creative_canberran4:23 pm 26 May 11

These statistics are all meaningless for the most part unless one also takes into account their exercise. That RD Energy Intake is based on a certain body mass and certain amount of physical activity.

The other problem is for many outlets, labelling wouldn’t work where combinations are plentiful. Take Subway for example. Their most popular sandwich worldwide is the Italian BMT. Their own specs show that it has more saturated fat and 3x more salt plus far more KJ than a Grand chicken burger and fries from Maccas. And that’s based on the conservative estimate that you have no cheese or sauce and all the salads. Add cheese and a creamy sauce and your eating even less “fresh”.

I always assumed this was purely a punitive compliance burden.

The ABC reports that the move to add healthy food to the menu of many fast food restaurants has been a pretty poor return for the fast food chains. Out of 1,000 customers surveyed, only 2.5% of customers are actually choosing these items, and these customers tended to be female, older than the average customer, and likely to be working in or have an interested in the health care field. McDonalds and Subway participated in the survey.

“People are eating out more often, so it is more important to have clear information about how much energy is in the food,” Ms Bresnan said.

If customers are actively not choosing to purchase the healthy alternatives on the menu, will they pay any more attention to the kilojoule count charts?

LSWCHP said :

I love these stories.

I’m a tall lean bloke from a family with a long history of producing tall lean blokes. My problem is that I need to try really hard to put weight on, so I can pig out on grease bombs, chips, coke, cake, beer etc for weeks at a time and not gain an ounce.

Meanwhile, some of my mates gain flab if they walk past a Maccas. Hahahahahaha…..

I hate you. As I sit here putting rabbit food in a container to take to work for lunch, and stare at my miniscule bowl of bran and low fat yogurt breakfast, the same thing I have had for the last three months, I am dreaming of killing you in the most gruesome way possible.

I love these stories.

I’m a tall lean bloke from a family with a long history of producing tall lean blokes. My problem is that I need to try really hard to put weight on, so I can pig out on grease bombs, chips, coke, cake, beer etc for weeks at a time and not gain an ounce.

Meanwhile, some of my mates gain flab if they walk past a Maccas. Hahahahahaha…..

georgesgenitals6:27 pm 20 Apr 11

Erg0 said :

Standing in line at a Starbucks in New York, I realised that the coffee and muffin I was planning on consuming added up to almost 900 calories. I got a piece of banana bread instead of the muffin and had the coffee with skim milk – 400-odd calories saved. Taking me as a sample of one, the system works!

That said, I hardly ever buy takeaway coffee and don’t exactly need to be told which items on the McDonalds menu are highly calorific.

Fortunately the little pizza place at 7th and 39th I went to late last year didn’t have energy content. That 3 cheese pizza lasted about 4 meals!

Standing in line at a Starbucks in New York, I realised that the coffee and muffin I was planning on consuming added up to almost 900 calories. I got a piece of banana bread instead of the muffin and had the coffee with skim milk – 400-odd calories saved. Taking me as a sample of one, the system works!

That said, I hardly ever buy takeaway coffee and don’t exactly need to be told which items on the McDonalds menu are highly calorific.

Chief Ten Beers said :

What’s with this obsession of telling people how to live?

Because health care for obesity-related illness is expensive, and with the current obesity rates, the country is facing a health care bill that will make the supposed “ageing crisis” costs look like chump change.

If people can see just how many calories they are consuming when they push this “food” into their maws, many of them will actually make the decision to eat less of it.

It’s easy to think “it can’t be THAT bad” when you buy a big mac. If faced with the bald numbers, many people will at least have to then make an informed decision.

harley said :

How will they define “major”? Will it just be if they were founded in the USA?

Why shouldn’t this be applied to everyone?

Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s s stupid idea, but why pick on the big successful companies only?

RTFM.

Seven local franchises or 50 nationwide.

So only the large and successful, although local player Zambrero will be caught up and I reckon the Kj count on those burritos is pretty large.

(in fact this will seriously mess up the adaptability of the menu, but rigid doctrine’s the green way right?)

How will they define “major”? Will it just be if they were founded in the USA?

Why shouldn’t this be applied to everyone?

Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s s stupid idea, but why pick on the big successful companies only?

Tequila Mockingbird8:27 am 07 Apr 11

I think it’s a great idea, I don’t see anything wrong with informing the customer about their purchase. If nothing else, it might help people to make an informed choice about what they’re consuming (although lets be honest, once you’ve rocked up to Maccas, you’re not going to leave on the grounds that the food is too unhealthy). If it helps people to consider what they are fuelling their bodies with, even just for a few seconds before they order a double, then I think it is a step in the right direction.

creative_canberran12:20 am 07 Apr 11

It’s on the packets already and has made no difference by all reports.
Those who care already know. Those who don’t won’t bother reading it or understand it anyway.

I think people should take responsibility for themselves, it’s becoming a communist country!
We don’t need someone telling what to eat, next thing they will be having us weighted at the railway station lol, only obese people.

Chief Ten Beers9:58 pm 06 Apr 11

What’s with this obsession of telling people how to live? I guess it will push up my health insurance and other costs but that happens anyway.

This scheme has been tried in many areas of the USA, with zero effect. It’ll just raise the cost of food and operating restaurants. see: http://www.obesitymyths.com/myth5.5.htm

wildturkeycanoe6:53 pm 06 Apr 11

It’s hard enough to find out what the meal costs with their menu boards now, let alone having to know the kJ value, the amount of sodium,potassium, magnesium, vitamins C,D,B1 and B2, the fact it’s “Australian Beef”, “real chicken”, fresh from the farm, cooked only in canola, baked not fried, tick approved for the heart, yada yada yada………..
I just want to know that I can afford to get a Pepsi-max, burger and fries with some change from a twenty and I don’t have to go put money in the meter while I wait for it.
Next the Greens will want mums to provide their kids with nutritional information fact sheets with their packed lunch so the school knows that the kids are being looked after. Then, I’ll be eating my smoko and find the devon has been imprinted with it’s salt and fat content using edible grade ink. Oh, wait, by then they will already have banned meat products from devon, it’ll be a pressed, soya-based substitute.
Go away Greenies, let me decide what’s good or bad for me.

If you’re eating that crap more than once a week, you probably beyond caring about the energy content.

The Greens seem to be doing a lot of pushing today. What do you know that we don’t, JB?

It may not do a vast amount of good, but I can’t see any down side.

…some fast food outlets changed the ingredients of their food products to reduce the energy content…

I think some people are missing the point.

Ignorance by the general fast food eating masses aside, the intended benefit is that once the actual values being shown is mandated the restaurants in question may redesign their menu to reduce the massive numbers they are forced to display. If that simply means using leaner meat or less sugar then how can that be a bad thing, generally speaking?

georgesgenitals3:41 pm 06 Apr 11

So we want to recommend a daily kilojoule intake despite the fact that our BMR/RMR varies from person to person by gender, age, height, build and exercise level.

Besides, people buying fast food know it mostly isn’t healthy. And those who don’t understand this wouldn’t have the mental ability to work out what the kilojoule values mean anyway.

How is this going to help exactly?

If people are buying fast food from these larger companies so regularly that it is posing a serious risk to their health, wouldn’t they have already read and ignored the nutrition information that is on the packaging?

I think it’s about time. I think many people would be shocked to learn how much energy is in that crap. I know so many people who say things like “I went for an hour walk, so I can have a piece of cake with my coffee”. Are you kidding? If people knew how easy it is to intake energy, and how hard to expend it, they might be a little more thoughtful about what goes in. Bring it on!

nobody cares. I don’t eat a double quarter-pounder to lose weight

So when I am waiting in line for my supper triple whopperMac with extra cheese I can know how bad it is for me? Do they think people care that much.

I know they should but really?

Interesting that the same government that removed the panel on cigarette packets telling consumers the quantities of the key ingredients, is insisting that food packets must have a panel on them telling consumers quantities of the key ingredients.

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