A county bill introduced Tuesday wants you to know how bad that Big Mac is for your health.
Sponsored by county council members George Leventhal (D-At large) and Duchy Trachtenberg (D-At large), the bill would require national restaurant chains to post info like calories, grams of fat, and sodium levels on their menus and menu boards.
“Among the most important functions of government is to do whatever possible to protect the health and safety of our residents,” Leventhal said in a press statement. “We think that our residents might like to be better informed about what they are eating in chain restaurants”
Chains with more than ten restaurants nationwide would be affected. That would include half the eateries in the Downtown Silver Spring shopping center, plus a handful of restaurants at Spring Center on 16th Street.
The District hopes to make the proposed rule a one-two punch. In March, District council member Phil Mendelson dropped a similar bill on his city’s council.
“By making this a region-wide program, we can help protect residents when they enter a chain restaurant regardless of what jurisdiction in which it is located,” Leventhal said.
If the county council approves the bill, it would go into effect next August. A public hearing is scheduled for Sep 18 in Rockville.
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McDonald’s makes no secret of its nutritional information. For years they have had it posted at their restaurants, on flyers and on their website. I remember seeing this information available in the OLD Silver Spring McDonald’s.
By old Silver Spring McDonald’s, do you mean the former town hall?
Are you kidding me?!? This is just bureaucratic insanity! If you don’t know what foods are good for you and what foods are bad then go back to first grade. Honestly, when you pull into a McDonald’s drive thru are you expecting to eat healthy? If people used a little something called common sense, they would know what foods are good or bad to eat. And furthermore, when was the last time you stopped to analyze the nutritional facts on the side of that package of Oreo cookies before cramming them in your mouth?
I already had an email exchange about this with Leventhal several weeks ago, when it first came up. Pointed out that the Tastee Diner, McGinty’s, Quarry House, Jackie’s — all of which I like — serve plenty of stuff that’s just as bad as McDonald’s or TGI Friday’s. He avoided saying whether they are just trying to create a new economic order here — but basically conceded that he knows the independents would turn out en masse to oppose this if they were included, so he targeted the chains (who, of course, don’t vote — and therefore don’t matter to the pols — because their ultimate owners don’t live here). Sadly, this is what Montgomery is becoming (and Silver Spring already is) — a place where socialists are trying change the system by just driving the “profit-seekers” out of business.
While I don’t agree with it, I think it has more to do with combatting the huge obeseity problem in this country as opposed to driving anybody out of business. Unfortunately, in this country, obesity is a problem that tends towards lower income brackets because it’s cheaper to buy a 69 cent cheeseburger than it is to buy a pound of lean beef and make your own.
I agree that food labelling certainly is not the cause of the problem, so much as the various cultural and economic problems. And in fact I would propose (close your eyes brent) a more socialiast approach to addressing the problem that would address things like living wages and ensuring first and foremost that everyone can AFFORD to put food in their mouths and in their childrens mouths without it being 69 cent cheesburgers.
Next it would ensure that just because a child’s parents are struggling economically it wouldn’t mean the child was raised in an unhealthy manner – hence beginning to address some of the economic/cultural aspects of the problem.
So while I agree that this fixes about as much as banning trans-fat, that is to say nothing, I think the intent is correct in trying to address a terrible problem, I think it just addresses the incorrect cause…. But I don’t think it’s a way of trying to “bring down the man”… judging by most of the development in the county, MoCo seems to have quite an affection for “the man” in fact.
paul_silver_spring, So you agree that it is all crap, because after you educate the low income earner, they still get hungry, and will go to McD before they spend top dollar on low fat ground round. The rest of us know better but want someone to blame besides ourselves for our slovenly condition. I was 170 lbs over weight and had no one to blame but myself. I knew nothing about transfats ant the current buzz words on nutrition, but common sence told me what was right and what was bad. I have lost over 100 lbs thru exersize and a CHANGE OF DIET,not a diet, (diets are for losers). Anyone too dumb or poor will not be changed by lables. It is just another cost to the tax payer to protect big buisness from litigation.
B wrote:
I think you hit the nail on the head.
Thank-you, I’m trying to be more productive, and less of a cranky old man. I don’t own a TV. All I have in life is a job, an internet connection, and an opinion, which I am trying to keep in check. My job sucks, Verizon beats Comcast, and I am me…
If they’re not including all restaurants, this bill is basically worthless to me. I NEVER eat out at the large chains, since I keep kosher, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to know what I’m being fed.
paul_silver_spring: Maryland had a minimum wage hike in 2006. Obesity hasn’t gone down – in fact, it’s gone up. Your “fix” isn’t going to actually fix anything, because just handing more money to people doesn’t fix their eating habits.
… but yet 9.2% of montgomery county still lives below the poverty line, per census statistics. Mind you, thats the national poverty line which has zero bearing on what it costs to live in a place like MoCo with a far above average cost of living.
But that aside, I believe I stated numerous social AND economic factors contributing to obesity in this country. And I DON’T think labelling will FIX any of those problems, I said precisely the opposite, that labelling with do nothing.
People don’t eat poorly because they don’t KNOW it’s bad for them, they either eat poorly because SOCIO-CULTURAL factors tell them not to care or because ECONOMIC factors dictate their circumstances (as they do 9.2%+ of the county)
we need to address BOTH the social and economic factors.