Public Health in Oregon - Join The Conversation

I think it is a great idea to have the calorie counts visible for consumers. I am overweight and am trying to change my eating habits. I went to get a quick bite to eat with my family, but was still watching calories. I asked the manager and cashier for a menu that provided nutritional value. I was told that they did not have copies of the nutrition guide. If we are going to try to get healthy then we have the right to know about nutrition and calories.

RE: statewide menu labeling…
Of course it’d be great but… (a big BUTT)... I’m really wary about trying to gate state legislators to do anything that isn’t backed by industry $$. I worked really hard lobbying for State-wide menu labeling in New York. It was SO shocking to have these supposed ‘progressive’ Assembly Members ‘explain’ to me some bogus rationale for opposing labeling, after I’d look up various tax filings and see that they’re a part ‘partner’ in this or that venture, and worry that they’ll be subject to such laws someday too (which they know will ‘eat’ into their fast-food business)! CSPI has been RIGHT on target ever since, with their ‘local focus’ approach (see NYC; Multnomah Cty; King Cty, etc). Yes, Calif went Statewide and it’s a dream come true, but local constituents supporting the law and pockets nearly as fat as the NRA there, which gave law makers something to think about. Here in Oregon, I worry that we’ll have the same disaster as in New York State! Yes… NYC has labels. But the State will never take it up again… I’m keepin’ fingers crossed, but feel like a Doubting Thomas!

The fast food joints need post their nutrition facts, but more than just calories. That is not the only thing that makes it unhealthy. Fat, trans-fats, ingredients, saturated fats, sodium, all of these things can have a baring on someone’s health. I don’t believe that these need to be as big as the picture of the burger, but clearly visible to the person purchasing the food.

Adding calorie counts to the menus/order boards is a great first step toward allowing Oregonians to make healthier choices. Yes, there is much more to nutrition and health than calories, but if we are talking about obesity, then the calorie count is a critically important component.

Restaurants are already required to have the other nutrition information available for people who have knowledge and time to delve deeper, but having the calories visible at the point of ordering is a vital tool for making better choices.

If you look at this in a bigger picture, this could really be a life changing act. If consumers know all nutrition values of fast food, the majority of people will figure out it just isn’t good for you. The fast food companies will loose money due to people knowing what they are really eating, which will make these companies think of a way to keep business going. Companies will have to make food more nutritious and healthier for the consumers in order to keep business. Fast food will change and be better for the people, which would lower obesity rates, and would in turn save a number of lives. I know this is reaching out a little far but if something good were to come from food labeling this is what I would want.

I agree with Leslie. Just showing the amount of calories is not enough, because people tend to think ‘less calories = good’ and don’t see nutrition balance. Soda and other energy drink are good examples. Companies advertise their products saying “0 calories” but instead of containing actual sugar, they add lots of chemicals in their products. We can easily imagine restaurants do the same thing putting a bunch of chemicals in their food to decrease calories keeping their taste if they are required to reveal their calorie label.Then this bill will act in a worse way rather than a better way.

If you’re going to put the amount of calories any food product contains, I think you should go all out and include the remaining nutritional content. Merely counting calories isn’t enough for a consumer to make a fully educated decision about what they want to eat. Senate Bill 2726 is absolutely heading in the right direction in regards to an increase in public knowledge of products. Since obesity is such a leading public health problem in the United States, I think that government needs to start taking steps in preventing the continuance of the situation. Like we discussed in class, the people that lead unhealthy lifestyles will unlikely be swayed by the caloric content found in food, but this bill may be successful in preventing Americans that are on track towards obesity to think twice about their purchases. I just do not foresee anything negative coming out of this bill. Either you look at the nutritional label and are better informed or you don’t.

Nutrition information in plain sight may scare away customers, yet it is nice to know exactly what you ar eeating. Something that you may think is healthy, could actually be bad for you, yet how would you know what is truly in your food unless you make it, or the information is posted in plain sight. For the population, the calorie count may seem the most important, but really you need all of it. The salt amount, the sodium, other ingretants being added. If people start watching calories, what other subitiations will be developed in order to make the calorie number lower? Like splenda, but replacements for parts of food aht would make the calorie amount lower. Are there side effects for the subitutions?

Is the goal to inform customers of what they are eating? Or is it to slow down the high calorie intake in hopes of decreasing obesity? People are LAZY. If you had the nutrition information avaliable but you had to ask for it, or look it up online very few people would actually make the efffort to investigate. If at least the calorie amount was in your face you would be making an informed decsion. They key to making decsions is inforamtion. Without being educated on what we are actually eating, and more than just the calorie amount how is someoen supposed to follow the trend of developing healthy lifestyels. People need to be informed, then they can make decisons and know what they eating.

Having nutrition inforamtion posted could lead to the manufacturing companies making the food healthier…or it could lead to decreased food intake, and therefore jobs being lost.

I am very passoinate when i say that food lables should be required on menu’s. HELLO AMERICA! OBESITY HAS BECOME AN EPIDEMIC! thousands of people die each year from obesity related diseases, heart disease and diabetes are amoung the top killers in this country.  i think its fantastic that people have access to the nutrition information in Multnomah county but i think it needs to be taked a farther than that.  I would say that with food labels on the menu it would almost garuntee that people wouldn’t change their minds about what they order.  As American’s we should be doing EVERYTHING we can to keep people heathly. If the restaurants are worried about losing business they should change and create healthier choices. This way they wouldnt lose money, they could even make money because more health contious people might even spend money there.

While I believe that more information is always of benefit to the consumer, I do think there is more of a hidden agenda behind the proposed laws when it comes to fast food restaurants.

When I see 1590 calories posted in big bold letters on that Double Whopper for instance, I’m basically seeing a sign that says, “don’t eat this, fatty.” It feels kind of like a Surgeon General’s warning on my hamburger. When I get fast food, I know I’m getting a meal full of sugar, salt, and fat. I don’t need to be reminded. With this law it feels like it is more government imposed pressure on the producer to police the consumer for them.

I believe the current regulations are satisfactory, where you can request nutritional information if you want to. I think being bombarded with massive calorie counts on your menu is a deterrent from big brother to not eat certain items.

I think this bill is a great thing that has a lot of potential.  Though it would be inconvient for restaurants, and could be bad for unhealthy places such as McDonald’s, I think it would be great for our society.  With obesity rates increasing at a scary pace, I think this bill presents us with a great opportunity to make a change.  If customers have the nutritional information about the greasy french fries they might buy, then perhaps they will reconsider what they order.  Sure, drastic improvements in the health of our nation may not be made, but at least it is a step in the right direction.  I fully support this bill and I am excited about this great opportunity!

I know that menu labeling has already influenced my choices when I decide to go out to eat.

For example, my roommate loves Taco Bell, and with busy schedules grabbing a quick bite to eat is a good way to catch up. I am more likely to go to restraunts that offer alternative healthy options such as the fresco menu at Taco Bell. I had no idea how unnutritional a some sandwiches from Subway could be until I looked at the calorie booklet they have easily available, after a review of the options I opted for wraps.

I don’t think this will influence everyones choices, children are not interested in reading booklets with calories and fat counts, and the Parents are usually taking them there because they don’t have time to cook, so they probably won’t take the time to read over the calorie counts.

However, I think this could have a positive influence on enough people to be worth the effort. Obesity is a big problem and putting the information infront of people will help them make more educated decisions. I especially think this could have a big influence on people 20 years and older. I also feel the responsibility should not just be on the consumer, there should also be accountability on the side of the producers as well.

I don’t support the laws to make restaurants put the information on the menus and in an openly viewable spot.  It is putting more of the responsibility of the consumers’ onto the producers.  I can understand having the information available if asked, but the consumers must have the responsibility to make choices by themselves, rather then force the restaurants to do it for them.

I really think that having nutritional information available will impact my own individual choices when I go out to eat and it will hopefully have that affect on the rest of America.  However, part of me is realistic in realizing that MANY Americans out there do not read the nutrition labels already and focus on ‘calorie counting’.  Just calorie counting will have little affect, although perhaps knowing that the milkshake you just got is 900 calories might prompt a change.  The serving size, ingredients, fat content (not just saturated and trans content but also monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fat content), vitamins, minerals, cholesterol…it’s all important information and for those that already pay attention to food labels will be happy to see that they know have that information for when they eat out.  For those that purchase foods at the grocery store and never look at the label, I highly doubt that they will change their habits when ordering out, even when the nutritional content is available.  Even the food pyramid takes constant re-educating of the public and revisions to make it more understood and I think menu labels are in a similar situation.  I think it’s another great step and I think it will impact my own personal choices but I don’t think it will make much of an impact on America’s diet as a whole.

I believe menu labeling is a great way to start bringing awareness to American citizens on the health issues associated with a poor diet.  If you are able to read nutrition information on the food you are about to eat, you might change your mind and take steps to a healthier lifestyle.

For restaurants, I understand that this will cause changes that are likely to add costs initially.  I think consumers will come to appreciate the additions to the menus and continue to dine at their usual locations.  This could also cause restaurants to adapt and offer a wider variety of healthy food options, further increasing a promotion of well-being. 

I know one option mentioned for the resaurants was to just offer a website, or other resource, where this information can be found.  I know for me, I would likely forget to look up the nutrition information later, and never actually change my habits.  Menu labeling is a much more direct and effective approach.

While it’s difficult to get corporations to change what they offer, particularly if the existing menu is cheap/profitable and people like it, public opinion can have an impact. McDonalds and similar places now offer different “sides” than french fries with their kids’ meals, for example. One of the reasons that they’ve changed their menus is that people have become aware of the impact of unhealthy eating, in part because of public health efforts to educate folks.

By having these kinds of conversations, we’re redefining what we mean by “community health” and creating a strong voice we can use to talk about what’s important to us.

Forcing restaurants to label their menus with nutritional information is a great idea. Menu labeling would help to not only reduce rates of obesity, heart disease, and other health issues related to unhealthy eating habits, but could potentially help open a whole new realm of jobs. A field of public health would work to ensure restaurants are properly labeling their menu in a way that is most effective for consumers. It may seem to be an overwhelming task, but the positive outcomes of menu labeling would outweigh any initial struggles. Menu labeling is a perfect example of public health working for the betterment of the community in the long-term.

I think this is a great idea. However, I wouldn’t go as far as saying that perhaps giant corporations like McDonalds and Burger King would feel bad enough about their calorie counts to change their food. Whatever they’ve been doing has been working for decades, so I doubt they’d change their ways unless they took a serious hit by posting nutritional information.

It’d be great to be one of the first states to adopt such a great policy.

I was not aware of this new bill but I think that it is an inspired idea.  There are so many people in the United States that are obese.  Having calorie and fat information right on the menu when you order your food would be very beneficial to Americans.  I don’t see how this could have any negative affects.  People would either start eating healthier or ignore the calorie and fat information, their choice.  As far as making more work for the restaurant owners, that is their job.  One would hope that if the bill does pass, it would encourage restaurant owners to make their food healthier, which would be even more beneficial in the end.  People do have a right to know what they’re eating.  I definitely think that this bill should be passed.

I feel that if food places were smart, they would put labeling on menus. I think it shows that they care enough to allow certain people to watch their calorie count and get a better understanding of how healthy (or unhealthy) the food really is. I think menu labeling will make fast food joints feel a little guilty about the food and maybe resort to healthier food choices. All I know is McDonalds chicken nuggets are NOW all white meat chicken… so what the hell was chicken nuggets made of when I was growing up?

Rebecca Fink is right. This could be an opportunity for restaurants to distinguish themselves with their creative solutions to the menu labeling problem.

Additionally, restaurants offering meals with high nutrition and relatively low calories could use that as a positive differentiator. Remember Macheesmo Mouse in the 90s? They were before their time with their menu labeling. Menu labeling across the board will make expecting this information the new normal, and we’ll all benefit from it.

I think restaurants should put the calorie intake for every item on their menu because this I think will help us make healthier decisions and prevent obesity from becoming a bigger problem in the U.S. Although this would create a little inconvenience for the restaurant owners, they could come up with some creative ideas that would prevent them from having to redo their entire menus and possibly create more attention to their restaurant. Hopefully by putting calorie intake on fast food signs will make people rethink their decision of eating a big mac because they can see the breakdown of what is in it and decide to eat something healthier. Therefore our obesity rate will decrease.

Making nutrition information available on menus is a no-brainer. The question is, why *wouldn’t* we as a state want to do it? What possible reasons could we have for *not* wanting to know vital facts about what we’re ingesting? We’re accustomed to nutrition information on all packaged food we buy, after all, so why isn’t similar information available for restaurant food?

Reasons I can think of:
1. Restaurants will have to research and compile the nutrition information.
However, while this would be a hassle, it seems like the information is already available, it just takes a bit of math to apply. E.g. take the calories (or vitamin A or whatever) in a stick of butter and a pound of flour and divide them by the number of croissants the butter and flour makes, to get the calories (or vitamin A. etc.) per croissant. And if a restaurant isn’t keeping track of the relationship between inventory and meals, then they’re running a sloppy business and could use a little tightening up, anyhow.

2. Restaurants would have to post the nutrition information. This would entail changing menus, signs, etc. Design layouts would change. Printing costs would be incurred.
However, work-arounds that might relieve cash-strapped restaurants of this burden would include attaching a separate sheet to each menu, rather than redesigning the entire menu itself. I’m sure there are other creative solutions, too.

3. Restaurants would have to reveal how unhealthy some of their offerings are, and sales of some popular items might fall.
This is one I can’t argue with, other than to point out the big picture in which obesity and other lifestyle diseases are crippling and disabling us through no reason other than our own collective ignorance about food. We have a choice about what we eat. In fact, we live like kings in that we can command almost any combination of ingredients into our lives with a simple trip to a store or restaurant. It’s time those choices at the restaurant table were informed ones. We have a right to know what we’re eating.

Nutrition information needs to be made available at the point customers make their decision about what products to buy.