National consultation launched on mandatory calorie counting in restaurants

A national consultation has been launched on whether mandatory calorie counts should be introduced on menus.

Legislation proposed by the Government would require all menus, leaflets and digital menus to show calorie details alongside the price.

The consultation is based on the Government’s proposed Health and Wellbeing Bill, which will apply to non pre-packaged food served by food businesses for immediate consumption on or off the premises.

The Food Safety Authority of Ireland has developed an app (MenuCal) to calculate the amount of calories in meals which can be used by restaurants and consumers.

Consultation and a questionnaire on the proposed changes is open to the public on the FSAI website until October 28.