Print
Mar 2, 2007 11:17 am US/Eastern
Wendy's, White Castle Stop Providing Calorie Info.
NEW YORK (CBS/AP) ―
Wendy's International Inc. and White Castle have removed calorie counts from nutrition posters in their New York City restaurants to avoid having to post the same information prominently on their menu boards.
A new city rule will require some restaurants to post calorie information on menu boards in type at least as big as the price or name of the item. It applies to restaurants that serve standardized portion sizes, but only if they made calorie information available as of Thursday.
"We fully support the intent of this regulation," Wendy's said in a statement on its Web site. "However, since most of our food is made-to-order, there isn't enough room on our existing menu boards to comply with the regulation."
A call to White Castle was not immediately returned. But White Castle Director of Marketing Jamie Richardson was quoted in print reports Friday as saying it had decided to remove its posters and brochures from New York restaurants before March 1.
"We wanted to allow ourselves as much flexibility as possible and ultimately work through a solution that is as customer-friendly as possible," Richardson said.
The city Health Department said Friday it did not immediately know how many other fast food chains may have pulled their calorie count information.
Wendy's spokesman Denny Lynch said the posters were replaced with ones that still provide nutritional information on fats, carbohydrates and sugars.
The change brought a tart response from Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden.
"If some restaurants stop displaying calorie information to avoid making it useful to customers, we should wonder what they're so ashamed of," he said in a statement.
Part of a vigorous city campaign for healthier eating, the calorie-disclosure requirement takes effect July 1. The city Board of Health approved it in December while also banning restaurants from using artificial trans fats.
The calorie-disclosure provision is expected to affect about 1 in 10 of the city's restaurants, mostly national chains and fast food franchises. Before it was approved, fast food companies complained that it would clutter menu boards with health data already available on fliers, charts and Web pages.
Some City Council members, who say they were left out of the process, have complained that the calorie rule is flawed.
Councilman Joel Rivera proposed this week to require restaurants to put nutritional information on a poster or some other means, but not on the menu.
He said Wendy's decision to remove the calorie counts was a "step in the wrong direction," but he said it stemmed from what he saw as misguided regulation.
"We should be working with the industry that's already been voluntarily providing information, not working against it," he said.
(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
