Menu Labeling Issues

Poor diet and obesity are part of major health concerns at this time. One of the important reasons that lead to obesity is the increase in eating out at restaurants with big portions that promote overconsumption. There is a very important need for more regulation in restaurants' food and diet quality because there is clearly an increase of poor diet and health issues such as obesity. Having nutritional menu labeling in restaurants is extremely important to show people the contents of what they eat. The calories of meals or plates plus other nutrition information such as the amount of sugars, sodium, carbohydrates, fiber, saturated fat, and trans-unsaturated fatty acids that are in the food should be listed on menu labeling to increase people’s awareness. Studies have shown that consumers cannot estimate the amount of calories and fat that they eat out, and this will increases the proportion of indifference, lack of attention to health, and rate of health issues (VanEpps, Roberto, Park, Economos, & Bleich, 2017).
Furthermore, a third of Americans consume their calories from fast food restaurants, because they are unaware of the amount of calories, and there …show more content…
Studies have shown 83 percent of American customers like to know about the menu labeling information, and 48 percent of American adults agreed that reading the nutrition information on food labels made them change their purchasing habits because the menu labels help them know what is in the food (The Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University, 2008; Block & Roberto, 2015). A study in Seattle, Washington found that many restaurants decreased the calorie amount of their meals after the implementation of a menu labeling law (Block & Roberto, 2015). Moreover, the studies show that the menu labeling regulation for restaurants increased people’s nutrition information awareness, and improved their choices (Tandon et al.,