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Food Safety and Nutrition
Restaurant and Caterers to display calories on menus

At the end of April eighteen major catering companies, including many high street brands, introduced calorie information on their menus for the first time. The list (shown below) includes workplace caterers, fast-food outlets, theme parks, pub restaurants, cafes and sandwich chains.

Research published by the Food Standards Agency last year showed that consumers would welcome simple, clear and visible nutrition information when eating out. A survey carried out by the Food Standards Agency in June 2008 suggested 85% of consumers agreed that restaurants, pubs and cafes have a responsibility to make clear what is in the food they serve. More than 80% of respondents said that nutrition information would be most useful if provided at the point they choose to order food, such as on menus or menu boards.

By June, more than 450 food outlets across the country will have introduced calorie information. Each company has agreed to display calorie information for most food and drink they serve; print calorie information on menu boards, paper menus or on the edge of shelves and ensure the information is clear and easily visible at the point where people choose their food. Independent research will assess how easily customers understand and use the system and gather feedback from the restaurants themselves to look at practical issues and the costs involved in providing the information. Gathering this data will inform the next steps for a wider roll-out of calorie labelling on menus.

The introduction of such nutritional information supports the Government’s obesity strategy ‘Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives’. The strategy aims to prevent children from becoming obese and includes measures aimed at helping children lead healthy, active lifestyles and develop good eating habits which will hopefully continue into their adult lives.

Lisa Ackerley comments: "Making calorie information available at the point of choice will allow consumers to make informed choices when eating out. This will be particularly useful for people who wish to follow a healthier diet but still want to eat out, whether that is at a pub, restaurant or in the workplace.
 
We must be mindful however that the information is only useful for those who understand what it means and the way in which it is presented will be important. Over the last year, the FSA has been undertaking separate research into nutritional information on food packets and some supermarkets have signed up to a traffic lights labeling scheme, which offers a simple red, amber and green guide to nutrition. However many firms in the food industry favour a scheme to provide percentage figures of guideline daily amounts (GDA) for things like calories, sugar, salt and fat. Having taken a look at the Kentucky Fried Chicken nutritional information (provided on their website), this is not given in either traffic light or GDA format. It will be interesting to see how information is provided at point of sale and the results of future research into how easily consumers assess the information provided. At the time of writing, it is unclear if any one particular format will be followed. "

Health News

The Children's Food Campaign has launched a special summer holiday project to get more drinking water in parks, in response to the recent hot weather spell and the school summer holidays. 

 Health experts point to the increased consumption of sugary drinks by children and young people as a significant factor in rising obesity rates and dental decay. However, we all know that water is the best thing to drink when we are thirsty: it is better for our bodies, our budgets and our planet. 

Providing drinking water in parks would help children and young people quench their thirst without being tempted by sugary drinks and snacks. It is a simple, cost effective solution that could make a big difference.

If you would like to become involved in the campaign then you are asked to help in the following ways: 

• Visit your local park and if there are lots of well-signposted fountains, take a photo for the campaign, or
• If there are no working fountains, contact your local councilor in charge of parks asking them to consider installing drinking fountains, copying correspondence to the campaign.

Please advertise the campaign, perhaps to local brownie or cub packs. There is a group on the Children's Food Network website  http://www.sustainweb.org/childrensfoodcampaign/network/ for you to post your ideas, comments and photos.

In September the Network intend to draw up a national campaign plan that will help us make a drinking fountain in every park a reality.

New website

The British Nutrition Foundation’s main nutrition website, www.nutrition.org.uk, is currently being enhanced and will be launched at the beginning of September 2009. The newly designed site will feature enhanced search facilities, intuitive navigation and improved content. One exciting new element is a section named Healthy living which will provide advice and tips on putting healthy eating and an active lifestyle into practice. To complement this section, a newly created Nutrition science area will support the discovery of the science of nutrition, allowing pupils to find out why nutrition and physical activity are so important for health.