Senate Bill S5003

                                 BILL NUMBER:  S5003

 TITLE OF BILL :
An act to amend the public health law, in relation to the posting of
caloric value of food items


 PURPOSE OF BILL :
To require certain restaurants and food service establishments to
provide calorie information to customers.

 SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS :
Would add a new section 1352-d authorizing the Commissioner of Health
to develop regulations requiring restaurants and food service
establishments to prominently post calorie information as usually
prepared and offered for sale on standard printed menus and menu
boards or signs. Chain restaurants and food establishments will post
the number of calories per menu item in a size or typeface at least as
large as the name and price of the menu item, whichever is larger, and
to post the range of calorie content values showing the minimum to
maximum numbers of all calories for all flavors or varieties or
combinations of food items. This section shall not apply to menu items
for less than thirty days in one calendar year. Nothing prohibits a
restaurant or food establishment from providing additional nutritional
information.

              

A chain restaurant or food service establishment shall mean an
establishment engaged in the preparation, serving and sale of food or
beverages or meals with standardized preparation, portion sizes and
content intended for public consumption. This establishment is one of
at least fifteen such restaurants or establishments in the United
States and at least five such restaurants or establishments in New
York State doing business under the same trade name and offering
predominately the same menu items on the same menus or menu boards or
signs. This shall not apply to food establishments that are licensed
under article twenty-c of the agriculture and markets law except for
sections that been determined by the Commissioner to be restaurants or
food service establishments subject to the provisions of this section.

Health inspectors are only required to check for the menu listings
although the Commissioner can ask for documentation of the accuracy of
listings. Violations of this section shall be limited to the penalty
set forth in section twelve of this chapter. These provisions shall
not restrict the power of any county, city, town, or village to adopt
and enforce additional local laws, ordinances, or regulations which
comply with at least the minimum applicable standards set forth in
this section.

 JUSTIFICATION :
Obesity rates in adults doubled over the last twenty years. The
percentage of seriously overweight children tripled in the past two
decades. The NYC Health Department found that nearly half of
elementary-aged children are overweight. According to the NYS WIC
Association over 32% of the children age 2-5 who are participating are
overweight or at risk of being overweight. This leads to illnesses
such as diabetes in young children. Centers for Disease Control (CDC)
research estimates that one in three U.s. children born in 2000 will
become diabetic in their lifetimes because of obesity. A study
commissioned by the CDC found that $75 billion is spent nationally
each year on obesity related medical costs, half of it with public
dollars through Medicaid and Medicare. It was estimated that $3.5
billion of New York's Medicaid spending is due to obesity, by far the
highest level of any State.

During the time when obesity has been rising, Americans are
increasingly eating meals away from home and food businesses spend
hundreds of millions of dollars encouraging children and their
families to do it even more. In 1970, Americans spent just 26% of
their food dollars on foods prepared outside their homes but today
spend almost half of food dollars eating out. The average American
consumes about one-third of their calories from foods from restaurants
and other food-service establishments. Portion sizes have been
increasing and studies show that people tend to eat greater quantities
of food when they are served more.  It is not uncommon for a
restaurant entree to provide half of a day's recommended calories.
Children eat almost twice as many calories when they eat out compared
to home.

Since 1994, consumers can get nutrition labeling on packaged foods at
the supermarket. However, they are now getting more of their food from
restaurants and other food service establishments than years ago and
they cannot tell that a sweetened coffee drink at one chain may have
as many calories as a cheeseburger with fries at another. Food
industry critics of government efforts to fight the obesity problem
claim that it is up to parents to choose healthier foods to eat.
Restaurant nutrition information could empower parents, and children,
to do a better job.  Studies have found that 90% of consumers
underestimate the calorie level of menu items and when calorie
information is present consumers choose lower calorie items one third
more often. National surveys indicate that between 62% and 87% of
consumers support requiring restaurant nutrition information. Recent
reports by the Surgeon General and an FDA expert panel on obesity
recommend increased nutrition information on foods eaten away from
home.

This proposal would not place an undue burden on business. It only
applies to menu items for which calorie information is already made
available to the public through websites or brochures. It only applies
to menu items that are offered in standardized sizes and content. For
example, if a menu item such as a salad is prepared by the customer at
a salad bar, that is not a standardized menu item and calorie posting
would not be required. If a standardized salad were offered on a menu
board then that item may be required to have calorie information. One
day specials or special orders by customers would not have to be
analyzed and posted. This proposal does not mandate what food
restaurants offer or how they cook it.

Some health experts believe this generation of children will be the
first in history to have a shorter life expectancy than their parents
because of the obesity epidemic. Everyone, including food businesses,
needs to be part of the solution or we will all pay the consequences.

 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS :
None.

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
180 days after becoming law and.  Provides for necessary regulations
to be implemented prior to that date.
 LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :
A5520 of 2003 - reported referred to codes,
A5220-A of 2004 - ordered to third reading rules cal. 421
A5664-A 2005- reported referred to codes
A729 of 2007 - referred to health, reported referred to codes, amend
and recommit to codes, defeated in codes
A729-A of 2008 referred to health,
A729-B of 2008 amend and recommit to health, referred to codes,
referred to rules