As of January 1 of this year, new Ontario regulations require restaurants with 20 or more locations to post calorie information for food and drink items on their menu boards, apps, and take-out flyers.
Armed with this information, consumers should be able to make better decisions about what to eat while they’re out. However, a health expert suggests that these menu alterations may not make as much of a difference as one might expect.
David Hammond, a professor in the school of public health at the University of Waterloo, told CBC that while 90 per cent of consumers are interested in this information, only about a third actually use it to change their order.
Part of this could be due to the fact that it is only calories that are listed, while other nutrients are not. Some consumers may be less interested in consuming fewer calories, opting for dishes with higher levels of protein and good fats instead—which may pack more of a caloric punch.
Hammond notes that the longer-term benefit may come from companies improving their recipes to get the calorie counts down.
“When you have to put those numbers up on your menu or your menu board, a lot of companies look at those numbers and decide to reformulate,” Hammond told the CBC. “That can have a lasting impact and it doesn’t even necessarily require us as individuals to change. If they reduce the fat or the calories in what we’re being offered, that can have a lasting impact.”
