The Center for Science in the Public Interest, which has pushed for menu labeling for a decade, hailed the proposed rules but said that theaters and alcoholic beverages should have been included.
“If a movie theater is going to serve up thousand-calorie tubs of popcorn, 400-calorie drinks and 400-calorie boxes of candy, the least they could do is tell you about it,” said Margo Wootan, nutrition policy director for the group.
Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro (D-Conn.), who authored a separate bill requiring menu labeling, said Friday that she would “work to ensure that the final rule is strengthened” to include movie theaters and alcoholic beverages.
Patrick Corcoran, a spokesman for the National Association of Theatre Owners, a trade group, declined to comment Friday.
When Congress passed the health-care law, it stipulated that the labeling requirements should apply to restaurants and “similar retail food establishments.”
But in a nation where ready-to-eat food is seemingly everywhere — from refrigerated “grab and go” cases in drugstores to pizza franchises inside gas stations — the FDA has found it tricky to define “food establishment,” Taylor said.
And in restaurants where diners can customize their orders — deciding whether to add cheese or guacamole, or both, to a burrito, for instance — it’s difficult to display specific calorie counts. As a result, the FDA says restaurants can post a range of calories for items that are customized. “In a pizza situation, where you can have 20 different toppings, we’re allowing those calories to be declared in ranges,” Taylor said.
In supermarkets, all packaged foods have carried a “Nutrition Facts” label since 1990, allowing shoppers to quickly assess such information as calories, sodium and fat. But the same information has not been available at many restaurants, convenience stores and other places where food is sold.
“For people who are interested or curious, this will be staggering information,” said Marion Nestle, who teaches nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University. “And they’ll change their behavior. For others, it’s not.”
According to the USDA, Americans spent 42 percent of their food budgets in 2009 on items away from home, both for meals and snacks. And that comes at a cost to the waistline: When eating away from home, Americans consume more calories, fat and cholesterol, according to USDA researchers.
Still, some experts are skeptical that calorie information will cause people to make different choices.
“I think it will have an initial impact, but not a lasting impact,” said Bonnie Riggs, an analyst with the NPD Group, a market research company.
In research performed in December, NPD found that people perusing a hamburger restaurant’s menu chose foods with 12 percent fewer calories when they were provided the calorie counts for each item, ordering fewer french fries, regular soft drinks, onion rings and extra-large burgers.
But when asked how they choose restaurant food, Riggs said, they spoke about quality, freshness and portion sizes, among other things. “Calories weren’t even mentioned.”
Research editor Alice Crites contributed to this report.
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