DeLauro Lauds Menu Labeling Law

A Chicken Alfredo Pizza at the Olive Garden has 1,180 calories. Within a year, patrons will know that up front, thanks to new legislation pushed by New Haven’s U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro.

DeLauro showed up Tuesday in the cozy dining room of the Olive Garden on Universal Drive in North Haven to tout a new menu labeling provision.

The provision, a lesser-noticed part of a major health reform bill passed last week, will require restaurant chains with 20 or more outlets to post calorie information on their menus. After working on the menu labeling bill for seven years, DeLauro celebrated its passage with restaurant industry executives and health researchers.

Within a year, restaurants like the Olive Garden will be required to post calorie information on its menus and menu boards, according to the new law.

DeLauro is pictured perusing the menus of restaurants belonging to Darden, the company that owns the Olive Garden, Red Lobster, and other restaurant chains.

DeLauro praised the collaboration between the restaurant industry, the government, and food research groups such as the Yale-based Rudd Center and the beltway-based Center for Science in the Public Interest. Their cooperation resulted in the menu-labeling provision in the new health care reform law, DeLauro said.

DeLauro, in turn, was applauded for her steadfastness as chairwoman of a subcommittee of the Department of Agriculture dealing with hunger and food issues. The calorie information requirement was based on language she introduced years ago in an earlier bill that didn’t pass.

Kelly Brownell (pictured), founding director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale, joined DeLauro in celebrating the law.

“This is a historic development, because consumers have long wanted to know the calories in their restaurant foods, and now they’ll have it,” Brownell said. ​“So this is important in its own right because it should help consumers make decisions if they choose to use the information. But it’s also very important as a marker of government becoming involved in nutrition-related issues, which has been desperately needed for a long time.”

(Click here for a previous story about Brownell’s advocacy of a soda tax.)

It’s not a magic bullet, however. Brownell added, ​“Unlike the nutrition labels on packaged foods, this just provides calorie information. It’s possible government down the road will have other information included, like saturated fat and sodium, but for now it’s just calories.”

The New York City Olive Garden menu offers a range of caloric options. At the low end is minestrone soup for 100 calories or a garden salad without dressing for 120 (with dressing: 350). At the high end is the Chicken Alfredo Pizza, a pizza topped with grilled chicken, Italian cheeses, Alfredo sauce and scallions. It weighs in at a scale-tipping 1,180 calories.

Most adults shouldn’t consume more than 2,000 calories per day, according to the federal government recommendations.

“Our goal is to provide choices,” said Darden VP Bob McAdam (pictured above with DeLauro), ​“along with transparency that comes with this law.”

DeLauro said lawmakers drafting the bill had a lot of discussion about where to draw the line in requiring compliance. In consultation with the industry, they ultimately drew it at chains with at least 20 locations, so as not to be too burdensome on ​“Mom and Pop” operations. ​“This was not an effort to put people out of business,” she said, ​“but to assist, and have government assist, in a way that was meaningful, and helpful and not counter-productive.”

Asked about the financial impact of the new requirements on his company, McAdams could not provide specifics, but said, ​“There is a cost involved to make sure that we analyze all our food appropriately and accurately.” He added that it’s a cost the restaurant industry is willing to bear.

DeLauro said that when considering the cost of the unchecked obesity epidemic, any steps that can reduce it are welcome. She quoted a study from Emory University that predicts if current trends continue, the health care costs of obesity-related ailments — such as diabetes, heart disease and strokes — will reach $2.9 billion annually in Connecticut alone by 2018 — a four-fold increase.

The federal Food and Drug Administration is responsible for writing the regulations that will implement the calorie-posting requirements. DeLauro said that should be done within a year. Asked if his company would do it sooner, McAdam said Darden would love to, but is hesitant to act without knowing exactly what the FDA regs will be.

So far, just the cities of New York City, Seattle, and (as of April 1) Philadelphia have calorie count rules in effect for restaurants, and California has some food content disclosure regulations, but many other cities, counties and states are taking up the issue, said Scott DeFife, executive vice president of the National Restaurant Association.