PHILADELPHIA The Philadelphia City Council has passed a menu labeling law that a prominent consumer advocacy group described as the strongest in the nation.
The measure requires that local units of restaurant chains with at least 15 stores nationwide post calorie counts on menus and menu boards starting Jan. 1, 2010. But it goes farther than the mandates enacted by New York City and several other jurisdictions by requiring that trans fat, saturated fat, sodium and carbohydrate contents be listed in addition to calories on printed menus.
“The measure passed today by the Philadelphia City Council is the strongest in the nation so far, and we hope it is used as a model for other jurisdictions,” Margo Wootan, nutrition policy director for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, said in a prepared statement. CSPI, a Washington-based consumer advocacy group, has been a leading proponent of labeling mandates and a consistent opponent of the restaurant industry on those measures.
The Pennsylvania Restaurant Association said it has asked for a meeting with Philadelphia mayor Michael Nutter in hopes of convincing him to veto the law. But PRA chief executive Pat Conway acknowledged that a veto is unlikely, and might be overridden in any case by the Council.
If the measure stands, the association will attempt to have the bill amended by educating Council members and the mayor about the measure’s negative impact on restaurants, Conway said. He pointed out that the law would go into effect in 2010, providing the group with a year of educational work.
The PRA said it would seek such amendments as allowing restaurants to provide nutrition information in a variety of ways, rather than merely on menus and menu boards. For instance, it would like brochures to be an accepted means. Alternative language suggested by the group would also limit the required nutrition information to calorie counts.
The association issued a statement that characterizes the existing bill as “economically damaging.”
“Further, this regulation opens the restaurant industry in Philadelphia to a number of liability issues that will make restaurant companies think twice about opening new stores or expanding here, depriving the cit of much-need jobs and tax revenue,” the statement said.
With the passage of the bill by a 12-5 vote on Thursday, Philadelphia joins such jurisdictions as King County, Wash., and California in mandating the disclosure of calorie information by chain restaurants. A number of labeling bills are pending in other cities, counties and states throughout the nation. Although many are patterned after New York’s measure, some vary in such ways as how much information has to be posted, where it has to be disclosed, and how small a chain has to be to qualify for exemption.
With the support of the industry, a federal bill has been introduced in both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. The Labeling Education and Nutrition Act would pre-empt all local, county and state labeling bills.