Should Restaurants Be Made To Provide Nutritional Facts?

[Booko]

I would be shocked if half knew what gluten was let alone if it's in the dishes they serve. Besides, if you have food allergies or avoid certain foods you become distrustful of the information you're given by a server or may or may not know what you're talking about. I once asked if a soup was vegetarian, "yes, no meat in it" replied the waitress. It got to my table and was very obviously made with beef broth. Also, you can't simply trust menus with descriptions. I once ordered a salad based on the description on the menu which did not mentioned any sort of cheese. It arrived at my table with shredded cheese all over it. :sarcastic

Trust me, the waitstaff does not know anything about what they're serving.

I was at a restaurant with a friend of mine who has gluten allergy and she asked if there was any wheat in the cornbread (well we figured "gluten" was too obscure) and the waitress came back and said "no, just flour."

Uh...DUH??? Flour is made from wheat unless otherwise specified.

That's why what really works best is just to have a manual someone can look at. They ask, it takes just a little time for the employee to come bring it to you, everyone's safe and happy.

I really don't expect waitstaff or managers to know stuff like xantham gum, white vinegar, dextrin and food starch might all put me in the ER. Why should they know that? I have no problem being responsible for knowing that myself, and as long as a restaurant's ingredient list is complete and accurate then they should be free of any charge of negligence.

Yeah, sometimes there are cross contamination issues, but believe me, anyone with severe food allergies already knows that.

 

[Booko]

Feel free to not give your business to those who do not provide nutritional facts, if you feel so inclined.

"Feel free to not give your business to those who will not provides a means for you to enter their premises if you are bound to a wheelchair, if you feel so inclined."

That's the equivalent of what you're saying, and to millions of Americans, you do realize that yes?

I daresay there are more Americans with food intolerances than there are in wheelchairs.

But hey, we can just go suck an egg if we don't like it.

Even though it's tragically simple to put together a binder with ingredients.

 

[Booko]

I think for the most part regarding caleries/fat/and sugar it should be up to the consumer to do thier homework and use there common sense..I dont think for instance my local mom and pop donut/pastry shop shoud have to put a warining that this donut contains 60 grams of fat(about tripple your daily need and 100grams of sugar...I should know that donuts are bad for me.

Yeah, I'm on board with that. There are some ways of preparing foods that make them higher in fat than you think, but anyone who's been to Weight Watchers knows that really isn't so hard to figure out if weight is a concern.

Also things such as arificial sugar..People are starting to come up with horrible reactions to that as well..I have a friend that has a damaged gall bladder from eating fake sugar over time..So now even if she injest even a tiny amount she has a horrible gall baldder/digestive attack.

Oh my goodness! Uh, if she hasn't already done so, please recommend she remove all trans fats from her diet as well. They play havoc with the gall bladder also. If she is not very reactive to trans fats now...in time she likely will be.

My sisters gynocologist also ..said his wife called him up and was having an episode of complete disoriantation and confusion..she was frightened this came out of nowhere..Turns out it was high amounts of artificial sugar she had just consumed in one of those "energy drinks"

People get migraines off the fake sweetners too. The problem is, there is a threshold amount under which the food company is not required to list it. Aspertame is often found in ice cream especially because the addition of it means sugar isn't first thing on the ingredients list.

On this same note...did ya'll see the movie "Super Size That"..?..A healthy young male did a documentary and ate nothing but McDonalds for breakfast lunch and dinner..The rule was if they asked him "would you like to super size that" he had to respond yes..And he had to eat every bite.(at one point he actually threw up trying to eat it all)The experiment was supposed to be for 30 days..He had doctors running routine blood work and monitoring his weight..Before the 30 days even expired the doctors told him to stop the experiment.(if he didnt want to risk possible permenent and chronic illness).His liver was showing sings of toxicity,he was headed straight for diabetes,his cholesterol and all the bad fats were highly elevated so on the way to heart disease,not to mention he gained a lot of weight percentage wise.He was very ill...Also he started to develop mood swings..what appeared to be depression and anxiety attacks.He felt miserable.

That was an amazing movie. Apparently it's fast becoming standard fare in high school health curricula.

I do think the government health orginizations should keep people updated on the risk and benefits of various food products..I know I greaty appreciate having nutritional facts listed on products at the grocery.Some stuff Im absolutley shocked by..Especially the amount of fat and sugar and so on in such small "serving sizes"...A servign size for instance of ice crecm is 1/2 a cup.SHOCK ..who do you know that when they eat ice cream has 1/2 cup?..Not I...

Unfortunately, what ends up listed on that information is often not based on scientific or medical knowledge, but is spun by food manufacturers and agricultural concerns.

Imagine my surprise to find our pediatrician handing us information on sources of calcium in the diet. Hm...do we really need to include *ice cream* as a suggested source? And they were all *dairy* products. Uh...they never heard of dark green leafy veggies? What are people supposed to get calcium from if they cannot digest dairy or are allergic to it?

Oh yeah...down there in the mouse type on the bottom...it was written by the American Dairy Council.

The AMA should be ashamed of itself for encouraging doctors to pass out that sort of slanted nonsense.

Anyway..thats my ramble!

Mine too!

 

[SoyLeche]

"Feel free to not give your business to those who will not provides a means for you to enter their premises if you are bound to a wheelchair, if you feel so inclined."

That's the equivalent of what you're saying, and to millions of Americans, you do realize that yes?

I daresay there are more Americans with food intolerances than there are in wheelchairs.

But hey, we can just go suck an egg if we don't like it.

Even though it's tragically simple to put together a binder with ingredients.

Do I think that it is a good idea for a restaurant to have nutritional information available? Yes.

If I had a restaurant would I have nutritional information available? Yes, unless I was trying out a new recipe or something to that effect and hadn't gotten around to it yet.

Do I think it should be mandated by the government? No. For that matter, I'm not convinced that wheelchair access should be mandated (except possibly in government buildings). It's a good idea, and most businesses should do it, but they shouldn't have to do it.

I don't believe it is a function of the government to make my life, or anyone else's, convenient.

 

[ChristineES]

I am certainly not saying that restaurants should have to list every ingredient, but sometimes food will seem healthy and actually has a ton of salt in it.
Also, how can we do our homework on this if they restaurants don't have nutrition facts anywhere? I am not talking about the stuff they buy but the stuff they cook themselves. Maybe they should post it on a web site so that we can do our homework.

 

[SoyLeche]

I am certainly not saying that restaurants should have to list every ingredient, but sometimes food will seem healthy and actually has a ton of salt in it.
Also, how can we do our homework on this if they restaurants don't have nutrition facts anywhere? I am not talking about the stuff they buy but the stuff they cook themselves. Maybe they should post it on a web site so that we can do our homework.

What kinds of restaurants are you talking about? Many (if not most) national chains already have this (and they've done it without Government mandate - amazing how that works!). Mom and Pop cafes aren't going to have the resources to pull this off all that well.

 

[ChristineES]

What kinds of restaurants are you talking about? Many (if not most) national chains already have this (and they've done it without Government mandate - amazing how that works!). Mom and Pop cafes aren't going to have the resources to pull this off all that well.

You're probably right. Just because I would like something doesn't mean I can force people to give it to me. I don't eat at fast food very often.
I have survived this long eating at restaurants, chains and mom and pop cafes, this long so I don't think I am going to die.
It would be nice, though, if the restaurants have the resources to do it.

 

[Booko]

Do I think that it is a good idea for a restaurant to have nutritional information available? Yes.

First, a bit of clarification. Nutritional information is one matter, and one might make a case that is optional.

I am arguing that just knowing what's in the food is NOT optional, and yes, should be a requirement for anyone serving food, whether it's a restaurant or a caterer.

If I had a restaurant would I have nutritional information available? Yes, unless I was trying out a new recipe or something to that effect and hadn't gotten around to it yet.

Do I think it should be mandated by the government? No. For that matter, I'm not convinced that wheelchair access should be mandated (except possibly in government buildings). It's a good idea, and most businesses should do it, but they shouldn't have to do it.

I don't believe it is a function of the government to make my life, or anyone else's, convenient.

It's not about making life "convenient" SoyLeche.

It's about making life outside a person's home "possible."

And yes, it is the gov'ts function to make it possible, within reason, for its citizens to be able to have a life in public as part of this society.

And no, it is not too much for a mom and pop to even manage a handwritten list of ingredients in their food.

My neighbor runs a mom and pop and he seems to have no difficulty with it.

You seem to think it will break the bank of a mom and pop to provide a list of ingredients.

I say: bollocks.

Some measures are, I think extrordinary. I'm hardly demanding we remove all popcorn from movie theaters so I can see a movie. Movies are optional and lets face it, it's only months till I can get something on Netflix anyway. That's "inconvenient" sure, but not a problem. It's just life.

However being able to safely eat without ending up in an ER somewhere or possibly dead because I dare to go anywhere other than my house, perhaps driving to grandma's for Thanksgiving? Or flying? is not about my "convenience."

Eating is not optional and it is not possible to truck all my own food along with me and cook it for myself much of the time.

So apparently the small "inconvenience" of having available the ingredients in foods served in restaurants, in some form, far outweights my "inconvience" of sitting my arse in a chair in my house for the rest of my life because I have to eat and people don't know what's in the food they are selling.

I hope you never end up in a wheelchair, SoyLeche. Because you will understand very quickly what that "inconvenience" of having to give people a way into everyday buildings means to real people's lives.

Ask Maesi about it if you really want to know.