How the health care bill will reform U.S. meals
April 7, 2010
Just as dining out was a much different experience four, three, even a single decade ago, very soon the grazing grounds will drastically change in America yet again, though this time for the better.
President Obama’s lengthy health care reform, accepted into law in March, mandates that restaurants with more than 20 locations must post the calorie counts of foods on their menus, preferably next to the items’ prices. The requirement also applies to vending machines, which could result in better nutrition choices for kids in schools and cubicle workers whose idea of “eating out” is walking down the hall to grab a single-serving cheap treat.
Click the links to find excerpts from the 2009-2010 Bills, and a list of associations and other big names who have voiced support or campaigned for these bills.
The idea was not fostered from reform mastermind Obama, as an overhaul in nutritional health policy has shadowed the awareness of legislators for years. The restaurant industry has resisted the changes, making only smaller degrees of improvement possible until recently.
“The historic legislation that President Barack Obama will sign will do so much to give more Americans access to health care, but it also does much to help prevent disease in the first place,” said Center for Science in the Public Interest nutrition policy director Margo G. Wootan.
“Menu labeling at restaurants will help make First Lady Michelle Obama’s mission to reduce childhood obesity just a little bit easier.”
This California legislation will be an example for the nation. It does not include the products sold by small businesses, or “daily or temporary specials and customized orders.” Some restaurants have already posted nutrition facts prior to the landmark reform bill due to the public’s increasing hunger for easily accessible information.
Click on the below images from CSPI to view full-size (we like everything bigger in Texas, after all):
