OLYMPIA Wash. The Washington Restaurant Association said it “is evaluating the legal and discriminatory impacts of the new King County regulations” requiring chain restaurants to post nutritional information on menus and all foodservice establishments to eliminate trans fats.
The statement was released Thursday by the association in response to last Thursday's passage of the new law by the King County Board of Health. It comes as the New York State Restaurant Association is awaiting a judge’s decision on that group’s challenge of the nation’s only other menu-labeling requirement, which went into effect July 1 in New York City. In a court hearing that began Wednesday, the NYSRA argued that the measure was illegal and discriminatory.
The New York measure—which, like the new King County law, also mandates the gradual elimination of trans fat from restaurant kitchens—has also been assailed because of the way it was adopted. The law was decreed by the city’s board of health. The Washington law was similarly approved by the King County Board of Health, not a legislature. The WRA called that process “flawed.”
The Washington association blasted the King County measure as “nothing more than bureaucrats trying to micro-manage consumer choice.” Its officials said they would support voluntary methods to achieve the board of health’s aim of promoting more healthful eating by residents of the county, which encompasses Seattle.
Specifically, the WRA called for a voluntary effort to:
• Eliminate all artificial trans fats in restaurants by December 2010 (cooking oils by December 2008 and the trans fats within other menu items by December 2010).
• Develop an industry “best practice” on where to place nutritional information for those who provide it.
• Provide consultation services for restaurants to increase nutritional labeling for menu items.
• Establish a definition for healthy entrées and encourage restaurants to provide a number of healthy options.
The King County law requires restaurants that are part of chains with at least 10 units nationwide to disclose on their menus the calorie, fat, sodium and carbohydrate content of every item except specials. Unlike in New York, every chain place would be required to oblige, whether or not it has previously conducted a nutritional analysis of its fare.
King County officials have lauded the menu-labeling requirement and trans-fat ban as measures that promote citizens’ safety and said that more than 65 percent of the county’s residents support menu labeling.