The British Medical Journal has published a study that sought to “assess the impact of fast food restaurants adding calorie labeling to menu items on the energy content of individual purchases.” According to the researchers, including an independent consultant and a city official, the more than 8,400 adults interviewed in 2009 did not overall purchase foods lower in calories after New York City implemented regulations requiring calorie posting, but among the one in six lunchtime customers who used the calorie information provided, lower calorie choices were made. Significant variations were apparently found in the data collected from different chains, a matter attributed to customer purchasing patterns and changes in menu options and promotions. More than 7,300 lunchtime customers at 275 fast-food locations, representing 13 chains, were interviewed in 2007 and provided their register receipts so researchers could verify their self-reported purchases. The same method was used to compare and assess…
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Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton (D) has vetoed legislation (House File 264/ Senate File 160) aimed at giving fast-food chains civil immunity if consumers gain weight after consuming their products. “Unfortunately, this bill provides to companies that manufacture, distribute, or sell food and nonalcoholic beverages civil immunity, except for: ‘any other material violation of federal or state law applicable to the manufacturing, marketing, distribution, advertising, labeling, or sale of food, if the violation is knowing and willful,’” Dayton said in his May 27, 2011, veto. “That requirement of being ‘knowing and willful’ creates too broad an exemption from liability, according to legal experts with whom I consulted.”
McDonald’s Corp. investors have reportedly rejected a shareholder proposal that asked the company to prepare a report assessing the role of fast food in “childhood obesity, diet-related diseases and other impacts on children’s health.” Led by the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia, which apparently owns $2,000 in company stock, the proposal coordinated with an open letter campaign launched by Corporate Accountability International (CAI) that asked McDonald’s CEO Jim Skinner to retire “marketing promotions for food high in salt, fat, sugar, and calories to children, whatever form they take—from Ronald McDonald to toy giveaways.” The letter apparently ran in several media outlets, including the Chicago Sun-Times, New York Metro and San Francisco Examiner, and garnered signatures from more than 550 health professionals and organizations. At the May 19, 2011, shareholder meeting, however, the company recommended a “no” vote on the proposal, and Skinner evidently defended the iconic clown as an…
New York City Council Member Leroy Comrie (D) has introduced a bill (Int. No. 530) that would ban toy giveaways in restaurant meals deemed high in calories, sodium and fat. Amending the city’s administrative code “in relation to setting nutrition standards for distributing incentive items aimed at children,” the bill mirrors a similar San Francisco measure set to go into effect in December 2011. Comrie’s proposal would require establishments that offer toys with meals to make sure the food contains less than 500 calories, 600 milligrams of sodium and 35 percent of calories from fat. A half cup of fruit or vegetables and one serving of a whole-grain product must be included in the meal. Violators would be subject to fines ranging from $200 to $2,500. “While I recognize that ensuring children have access to, and eat more, nutritious meals is ultimately the responsibility of their caretakers, the City Council…
The Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia, who hold about $2,000 of common stock in McDonald’s Corp., joined by nuns from orders in other states, have reportedly submitted a shareholder proposal seeking a report “within six months of the 2011 annual meeting, assessing the company’s policy responses to public concerns regarding linkages of fast food to childhood obesity, diet-related diseases and other impacts on children’s health.” They also want to know how these public concerns potentially affect “the company’s finances and operations.” The “whereas” clause of the proposal contends that “the contribution of the fast food industry to the global epidemic of childhood obesity and to diet-related disease, such as diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular disease, have become a major public issue,” and cites a number of studies about the incidence and costs of obesity, as well as actions taken by policymakers involving fast food marketing to children and menu-labeling. The…
Highlighting the California lawsuit that seeks to stop McDonald’s from marketing “Happy Meals” to children, a March 2011 Inside Counsel article cautions corporate counsel to pay attention to such litigation, because, frivolous or not, the case marks a growing national focus on health and governmental initiatives to impose reforms on the food industry. Additional information about the case appears in Issue 375 of this Update. Author and managing editor Ashley Trent quotes Shook, Hardy & Bacon Agribusiness & Food Safety Co-Chair Madeleine McDonough, who questioned whether the lawsuit could be certified as a class. “There are so many individual issues,” she said. “What kind of advertising did [putative class members] actually see? What’s the proof that they actually relied on the advertising? What are the reasons they ate at McDonald’s? What did they eat? What kind of control did the parents exercise?” Other legal experts questioned the strength of the lawsuit’s substantive…
A recent study claims that teenagers notice but ultimately disregard calorie counts on fast-food menu boards, ordering the same number of calories as they did before New York City’s mandatory labeling laws took effect. B. Ebel, et al., “Child and adolescent fast-food choice and the influence of calorie labeling: a natural experiment,” International Journal of Obesity, February 2011. In a follow-up to a 2009 study, New York University researchers collected survey and receipt data from “349 children and adolescents aged 1–17 years who visited the restaurants with their parents (69%) or alone (31%) before or after labeling was introduced.” The findings evidently showed “no statistically significant differences in calories purchased before and after labeling,” although 9 percent of the subjects reported that calorie information influenced their purchasing decisions. In addition, 70 percent said that taste, followed by cost, was the most important factor in their choices, and the majority underestimated…
This article focuses on the Los Angeles City Council’s unanimous decision last month to permanently extend a moratorium on new stand alone fast-food restaurants in South Los Angeles, where the city Department of Health estimates that 30 percent of the residents are obese. Although the ban allows exceptions for “mom-and-pop” businesses and shopping center eateries, it ultimately seeks to prevent additions to the 1,000 preexisting fast-food joints “in the 30 or square miles of South Los Angeles covered by the regulations.” According to Times writer Jennifer Medina, these rules “are meant to encourage healthier neighborhood dining options,” such as “sit-down restaurants, produce-filled grocery stores and takeout meals that center on salad rather than fries.” But the move also represents the first time a city has prohibited new fast-food restaurants “as part of a public health effort,” raising questions about whether the approach will actually lower obesity, heart disease and diabetes…
“I don’t want any more government interference than the next guy, but I believe that the precedent has already been set for successful government intervention on behalf of improving our health,” writes Hanover College Kinesiology and Integrative Physiology Professor Bryant Stamford in the first of a two-part article comparing obesity prevention tactics to federal curbs on tobacco advertising. Acknowledging the public outcry against fast-food incentive bans, Stamford suggests that the government would not set “a dangerous precedent” insofar as it has already made a concerted effort to stymie youth tobacco use with product warnings and advertisement restrictions. Without these measures, he claims, “the cigarette industry would continue to run roughshod over the American public with the specific purpose of capturing us when we are young, addicting us and ensuring that the majority of the addicted will be customers for life.” For Stamford, the parallels between the tobacco and fast food…
Seeking to represent a class of California children younger than age 8 and their parents, the mother of a 6-year-old girl has reportedly filed a putative class action against McDonald’s Corp., alleging that it baits children by advertising its “unhealthy Happy Meals” with toys and thus “has helped create, and continues to exacerbate, a super-sized health crisis in California.” Parham v. McDonald’s Corp., No. __ (Cal. Super. Ct., San Francisco Cty., filed December 15, 2010). Counsel for the plaintiff includes Stephen Gardner with the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), which announced several months ago that it would be filing such a lawsuit. According to the complaint, “Most Happy Meals are too high in calories, saturated fat, and sodium to be healthful for very young children,” and the company “is engaged in a highly sophisticated scheme to use the bait of toys to exploit children’s developmental immaturity and…
