Calorie count plan ‘will cost restaurant sector over €100m a year’
The proposals, which were approved this week at the Government’s Cabinet meeting, will require food outlets to post calorie information alongside the price for all items offered on menus, at the point where the food is ordered.
However, the CEO of the Restaurants Association of Ireland, Adrian Cummins, hit out at the proposals, claiming they were “virtually impossible to monitor” and would cost every restaurant €5,000 a year.
“Who is going to police all this? Environmental health officers [EHO] must be apoplectic.
“To really implement this, each EHO will have to come in, take a sample of the food, send it to a lab to be tested, and wait for the results to come back to see if the correct calorie count was displayed.”
Mr Cummins pointed out that without an ability to actively monitor the implementation of calorie counts, some food outlets could simply post lower counts than competitors.
“Will inspectors be paid to eat out in all of Ireland’s 22,000 food outlets and check if each menu has calorie counts on them? Any chef will tell you that menus in restaurants vary from day-to-day and therefore calorie counting would be highly inaccurate anyway,” he said.
The RAI pointed out that calorie counts on menus have already been introduced in the US, with “disastrous results”.
It pointed to a New York University study which said five out of six customers paid no attention to the information.
However, Leo Varadkar, the health minister, said requiring food outlets to display calorie counts would help in tackling Ireland’s obesity problem.
“Giving calorie details on menus is a very simple but effective way of encouraging people to choose a healthier option,” he said.
“Food options can be deceptive. Some salads contain more calories than a burger meal. But if we make the information clearly available, at the very least people can make an informed choice.”
Mr Varadkar disagreed with the RAI and said the move had proved “very effective” in the US.
“People are free to choose what they eat, and that’s only right. But public consultation tells us that 95% of consumers want calories displayed on menus.
“The current voluntary model is not working. Some of the fast food chains in Ireland have been providing information on calorie content. But with only 8% doing so, the time is right to make the healthier choice the easier choice,” he said.
Mr Varadkar said the drafting of calorie posting legislation would start immediately.
‘People educated to know if food is good for them’
A newly opened Cork restaurant, Wild West Wings, was just one food outlet that will be counting the cost of having to include a calorie count on all its menus from next year.
Wild West Wings opened last Thursday on Washington St in Cork City serving American-style cuisine with gourmet burgers, pulled pork, and steaks.
Frankie Murphy said making it a legal requirement on restaurants to have a calorie count on menus was unfair on small businesses.
“Then you have to pay for the menu to be re-printed again which is another €1,000 plus, depending on your style of menu and how many menus you need printed. It shouldn’t be mandatory,” he told RedFM.
Mr Murphy said the majority of people are educated enough to know what type of food is good for them and what types of food should only be eaten in moderation.
“If you are interested and you have an active lifestyle, then you are going to look up things and have the knowledge to say ‘Oh OK, these things I can eat, these things I can eat in moderation, these things I definitely can’t eat and if I eat this I gotta go spend three and half hours in the gym to work this off,” he said.
The Restaurants Association of Ireland (RAI) has criticised the move as “Nanny State proposals” that are “virtually impossible to monitor” and an unnecessary burden on the restaurant owners.
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