Harris ‘no plans’ for carb count on menus

HEALTH Minister Simon Harris has said the Government does not plan to force restaurants to include carbohydrate levels on menus bedside the calorie counts, despite a request from diabetes sufferers.

Dublin TD Louise O’Reilly recently asked Mr Harris about his proposals to force eateries to list calorie counts on their menus, as revealed by the Irish Daily Mail.

In a recently-tabled parliamentary question, the Sinn Féin TD queried plans to include ‘carbohydrate levels on menus in addition to calories, in view of the fact that those with type 1 diabetes must input correct carbohydrate levels into insulin pumps and type 2 diabetes sufferers must control diet through carbohydrate counting’.

Mr Harris said the Government approved the legislation ‘requiring calorie content only on menus’ and that he currently has ‘no plans to go beyond’ that.

Ms O’Reilly last night told the Mail she found Mr Harris’s decision ‘disappointing’ and urged him to reconsider the issue to take into account the needs of the country’s diabetics, who currently make up one in 15 of the population.

The Irish Daily Mail recently revealed that the Health Minister plans to publish legislation by the end of the year which – when passed – would force restaurants to reveal the calorie count of their meals on menus beside the price.

Calorie posting forms part of the Government’s ‘A Healthy Weight for Ireland: Obesity Policy and Action Plan 2016 to 2025’.