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Menu labeling launches into the twittersphere

January 16, 2011 by Betsy Craig — pres, menutrinfo.com

Menu Labeling went viral this past weekend.

On Jan. 14, a post showed up on the Wall Street Journal Health Blog titled, “Study Finds Menu Labeling Didn’t Change Eating Habits,” and it was re-tweeted more times than I could count! The blog talks about an area of the country that had put menu labeling in place a year ago and the outcome of that law. 

Seems to me that after only a year, it is still too early to get a clear idea of the impact of menu labeling and to conduct the study in King County, Wash., alone is a bit narrow.    

When I speak on the topic of menu labeling across the country, I point out that nothing changes quickly for most people. 

It personally took me years to actually (and finally) quit smoking after seeing warning labels on cigarettes. Those labels of the past, and the menu labels of tomorrow, are to enable informed choice, not change the world one diner at a time.  

There are so many reasons besides just the calorie counts that restaurants should and can provide this invaluable information. 

1. How about the chance to provide those 3 magic numbers that add up to points for anyone on a point system diet plan? 
2. What about someone needing to watch carbs and sugars to manage their diabetes and wanting to make the best meal choice for themselves? 
3. Menu labeling is an obvious path to properly identify food allergens
4. Gluten-free diets can be developed as a result of professional and proper menu labeling. 
5. Finally looking to achieve a lower sodium count for our clients is a large goal and one we are hearing more and more about. 

Menu labeling is tops on the list to help achieve many dietary goals.   

Check back next week when I will begin to define and describe the choices any restaurant owner has for completing the task of menu labeling and the task of properly maintaining that information over time. 

About Betsy Craig

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To date MenuTrinfo is responsible for menu nutritional information at over 100K US restaurants, food allergy and gluten free ANAB accredited training for hundreds of thousands of food service professionals. AllerTrain is the chosen food allergy training by NEHA providing continuing educational credit hours for those that take and pass its course. Finally, MenuTrinfo delivers food allergy confidence and allergen transparency to today’s food allergic consumer through its onsite division offerings, AllerCheck, Certified Free From allergens for spaces and food products which is an ISO 17065 certification and expert consultation and incident response support when needed.

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