FDA restaurant report
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SCOTT JAGOW: Today, some new recommendations for the food industry from both the government and consumer groups. This has to do with fighting obesity. Marketplace’s Scott Tong reports.
SCOTT TONG: The report recommends that restaurants market more low-fat foods and give diners calorie information in a uniform format.
Margo Wootan of the Center for Science in the Public Interest says once restaurants start telling us what’s inside, they’ll adjust what’s inside.
MARGO WOOTAN: If people realized they were eating a whole days worth of calories in a single piece of carrot cake, the restaurants would change the way they make the food.
Half the country’s restaurant chains give some calorie information. Indeed executives from the Subway sandwich and Bertucci’s pizza chain endorsed the report. But the National Restaurant Association declined.
Sheila Cohn is the group’s dietitian.
SHEILA COHN: We don’t want to support any suggestion of steps that could lead to a mandate.
She argues forcing calorie info onto the menu is a problem, because menus constantly change. For years now, industry has resisted mandates successfully.
In Washington, I’m Scott Tong for Marketplace.
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