Calorie menu count a no brainer

As a person who has battled with weight all their lives the proposed introduction of calorie counting in hotels and restaurants is nothing short of manna from heaven.

To us mere mortals that would prefer to place our health ahead of our social lives, I find it at the least discriminatory that going out for the occasional meal is completely and permanently off the menu for us.

The Food Industry chiefs’ argument against Health Minister James Reilly’s proposition is very sadly based on raw economics, man hours and the time and energy it would require to implement. From a personal point of view, and I’m sure I speak for many, but the investment of the said €110m and the thousands of supposed job loses for this initiative, the financial cost — not to mention health benefits of this investment — would be recouped several times over, with the opening of their doors to many people where eating out is an utter no no up to now.

This system successfully exists in Australia, the US and now in the UK since 2011, and in some premises in this country. The organisation Priceworth visited such a premises in Dublin and, upon scrutinising the menu, came across an Irish breakfast with 1,500 calories. They shied away from that meal and came across another breakfast with less meat and more poached eggs, with a calorie count of just 500kcal, which they reported was much nicer.

The Food Safety Authority conducted a survey in February 2012 into the very same subject and their findings appear to sum up this whole argument. Of all the people who participated, 96% of them voted in favour of calorie counting in restaurants. For every €1 spent towards these health promotions and preventative measures €14 would be saved in the long term.

With some misgivings about this proposal, eg who and how it would be policed, and being aware of the ‘good fat, bat fat’ debate by the health authorities, the actual long-term benefits to health in relation to heart, cancer and diabetes issues, makes this initiative a no-brainer and similar to Mícheál Martin’s smoking ban in March 2004, where the positive results of it will be felt for many years and generations to come.

Kevin Jordan

Clashmore

Co Waterford