KYW Newsradio Team Coverage
City officials held a ceremonial bill signing on Thursday morning for Philadelphia's new menu labeling law that takes effect in 2010.
The menu applies to chain restaurants only. It will require them to display dietary information on menus or menu boards.
Mayor Nutter was out of town, but standing in for him at the event was Dr. Donald Schwartz (center of photo), deputy mayor of health. He said the measure is tougher than menu laws in other cities, since it requires the display of not just calories, but also salt, fat, and carbohydrates:
"We are therefore making history. And while history is frequently made in small steps, we are taking a fairly substantial step in giving people the information they need to fight obesity."
The bill does let chain restaurants apply for exemptions, so they could post the information in ways other than on the menu or board.
Gary Foster, director of the Center for Obesity Research at Temple University, says even that is an improvement:
"If eventually it gets modified in some way, or there's some creative way to make it less transparent, that wouldn't be great. But it's certainly better than the position that consumers are in now, where they have to back to a web site or have a walking encyclopedia of caloric information in their head."
KYW's Kim Glovas reports that some folks think the new law is too intrusive:
"I don't think the government needs to do that. I know New York City is doing it, but I don't think we need to do that. It's too much government. I think people need to be informed themselves too."
"It should be up to the people themselves what they choose, but in a way it's good but i mean they're stopping the smoking, now this, what are they gonna do, stop everything?"
The bill is designed to provide people with information, and hopefully, reduce the growing obesity epidemic in, at least, this city.
(Photo by KYW's Mike Dunn)
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