Counting calories is what’s on the menu this winter
More eye-popping numbers other than the price will be on display by January
Ever wonder how many calories are on that gooey plate of nachos and wings, or in the beer you’re washing them down with at your local hangout?
How about in that large bucket of buttered popcorn at the movies, the Big Gulp at the 7-Eleven or in that scoop of chicken chow mein at a Mandarin buffet?
Maybe you don’t really want to know, but the stomach-turning truth will be staring you in the face as of January — and in the same size lettering as the price on the menu and displays.
By 2017, all restaurants, fast food joints, movie theatres, supermarkets and convenience stores that serve hot food with 20 or more locations in Ontario must post calorie counts of each item — including alcohol — on their menus, menu boards, on tags in display cases and at drive-thrus.
Even water, ice cubes and condiments in prepared meals are included in the new government regulations that have the restaurant industry in a tailspin trying to comply with the new law in time, with only a draft list of rather complicated instructions to guide them through the process.
“It’s a lot more complex than it looks from the outside,” said James Rilett, vice-president of industry association Restaurants Canada.
“I mean, there are 10,000 different ways to make a sub,” he said.
The health ministry says the Healthy Menu Choices Act, passed in 2015, is aimed at helping families make more informed choices about what they’re putting in their mouths and hopefully prevent skyrocketing obesity rates that cost the health-care system an estimated $4.5 billion annually.
But so far it’s become a very costly headache and major source of confusion for eateries, said Rilett. He notes most restaurants put out a new menu just before or after the summer. Depending on the size of the chain, it can take anywhere from three to eight months to develop a new menu, from proposing and developing dishes to training staff and printing.
“Some chains may have to reprint in January because they are reluctant to move forward with the information they have now and risk a different interpretation,” he says.
“We are seeing some of the small chains having trouble as they have no history with menu labelling and are hesitant to move forward before the rules are finalized.”
The definition of “menu” in the guidelines not only includes the paper one handed to diners at the table, but also electronic menu boards, online menus and menu apps, advertisements and promotional flyers.
Calorie counts must be posted “in at least the same size, font, format and prominence as the name/price of the standard food item,” says the labelling guide, which is still subject to government changes and updates.
Restaurants have the option of posting calorie counts for each alcoholic beverage individually, such as for a martini or Caesar, or they can provide a table that includes average calories for a standard 5 oz. glass of red wine or bottle of beer.
Every page of a physical menu or takeout pamphlet menu must also supply information on how many calories a healthy person should be eating daily. Added to each page — or posted clearly on signage near food items on display at places without hard menus — will be this statement: “The average adult requires approximately 2,000 to 2,400 calories per day; however, individual calorie needs may vary.”
According to food service consultancy NPD Group, Ontario is home to 77 quick service or fast food restaurant brands and 22 full service restaurant companies with 20 or more locations.
About 60 per cent already provide nutritional information on their websites or in pamphlets in-store, including calorie data along with carbohydrates, sodium and fat content for standard items. However, they don’t usually provide information for combos, made-to-order or specialty items, self-serve items found at buffets and soda fountains.
Major chains including McDonald’s Canada, Starbucks, Cineplex and Cara Foods — which owns Swiss Chalet, Harvey’s, Montana’s Milestones, Casey’s, Biermarkt, Kelsey’s, New York Fries, Prime Pubs and East Side Mario’s — confirm they are working on it and will be compliant by January.
And Sodexo Canada, which runs cafeterias in university dining halls and office buildings across Ontario, says it’s ramping up and will be ready on time for students and suits.
Exempt from the legislation are elementary and secondary school cafeterias, hospital cafeterias and federally-regulated trains and planes (but they are required inside terminals with chain restaurants).
Also exempt are jails, daycares, retirement homes, vending machines and food services that operate less than 60 days a year, such as pop-ups and food stands at summer markets, fairs and special events. Spirits on display behind a bar do not require calorie labels, nor do items that already have a Nutrition Facts Table found on most packaged foods.
If bottled water is listed on the menu, the calories must be displayed. And if a restaurant typically delivers a beverage to the table filled with ice, that must be taken into account when determining calories in for the volume of beverage contained in the glass, the guidelines say.
One chain that got the early jump is the Firkin Group of Pubs, which released a shiny new menu at the end of May that includes calorie counts for each dish at its chain of 27 restaurants.
“We knew the legislation was coming up, so why not get ahead of the curve,” said Larry Isaacs, Firkin’s vice-president of marketing.
It usually takes the British-themed chain three months to develop a new menu, but this one took another two months “due to the extra menu testing and tweaks based on the nutritional info,” said Firkin’s corporate chef Dave Godfrey.
The government guidelines state that caloric information must be determined either by laboratory test- ing or other “nutrient analysis method” derived from cookbooks or suppliers or other “reasonable” means such as a nutritionist. All costs are incurred by the restaurant chain.
Though the Firkin did not want to divulge the added cost of providing caloric content, “it is fair to say that all the extra sampling and testing contributed to a 20 per cent higher cost than in years past,” Godfrey said.
However the new menu doesn’t exactly follow the letter of the law at this point, with calorie information in tiny, almost microscopic size and without any data for booze.
“We went through it with a fine tooth comb, but we’re not going to be that crazy with it” at this point, said Isaacs.
Despite some of the eye-popping information in small print on the new menu — the fish and chips clock in at 1,203 calories and the Full Monty burger has1,735 calories minus the fries — Godfrey says unhealthy items are still selling like hotcakes.
“This is the place you go to have a cheat,” he said.
“At first we wondered if it would hurt nacho sales, but it hasn’t,” he said. (Firkin’s fully loaded nachos are 1,377 calories.)
Godfrey notes that in fact it’s helped sales of other items because they are surprisingly less caloric than expected, such as the fried pickles at 271 calories and the Shepherd’s Pie at 710 calories. He says the new chicken & waffles dish at 808 calories is a big hit too.
Studies show that consumers poorly estimate the nutritional content of food and that their choices are influenced by seeing the information while ordering. On average Canadians eat 30 per cent of meals outside the home.
“I think this could help Canadians to eat better,” said Jeffrey Pilcher, professor of food history at the University of Toronto.
“There are a lot of misleading statements, not to mention deceptive advertising, about food. Calories are a simplistic measure and other kinds of labelling might be even better. But this is a step in the right direction,” he said.
Inspectors from local public health units will enforce the legislation. Fines range from $500 to $1,000 a day for individuals such as franchisees at a particular restaurant and $5,000 to $10,000 a day for corporations that don’t comply.
Rilett estimates that the cost of creating a new menu with calorie counts at a chain with 80 locations is about $60,000, with about 12 weeks added to the process to gather the nutritional information for each item and tweak them if possible to reduce the number of calories for customers. Restaurants Canada has asked the health ministry for a six-month delay to give businesses more time to implement finalized guidelines, but so far the government is forging ahead.
“The ministry remains focused on implementation of the Healthy Menu Choices Act and regulations made under the Act on Jan. 1, 2017,” said ministry spokesman Jeff Costen.
“In the upcoming months, we will continue to provide additional supports and address any areas where further clarity is required,” he said in an email.
Menu labelling is already required in some U.S. jurisdictions including Vermont, New York City and Montgomery County, Md. The Food and Drug Administration has just delayed implementing a similar law across the U.S. yet again, until next year, amid pushback from supermarkets and convenience stores that will be required to put calorie labels on takeout foods.