Britain is Considering Making Large Hospitality Chains State Calorie Count on Menus

THE British Prime Minister Boris Johnson plans to attack obesity not just in children but in adults as well.

He is reportedly planning on passing a law requiring all places that sell food (including takeaways) and employ 250 staff or more to display the number of calories in each dish on their menus.

It is possible that this will then be extended to included alcoholic drinks at some time in the future.

The rationale behind this is that statistics suggest that those who are significantly overweight represented 8 per cent of those treated in intensive care units for Covid-19 and this was a much higher percentage than other groups of patients.

In addition, it is believed that those eating out consume up to 10 per cent more calories than they would if eating at home, so the decision to make clear the number of calories in each meal would allow diners to make an informed choice when ordering.

Understandably the hospitality trade which was so badly affected by lockdown is furious about the likely cost of implementing this plan as it will require that all dishes are analysed for calorie content and then all menus will have to be reprinted.

This will then make it more time consuming and expensive for these outlets to offer daily specials to their customers or indeed to take advantage of locally grown and sourced produce from small suppliers.

Representatives of the restaurant industry, suggest that it would be more appropriate to teach nutrition at school rather than increase the financial burden on their members.