EON

New Rule Took Effect On Friday For Caloric Posting

New York City-The city of New York has faced its first weekend with the new rule for chain restaurants required to post caloric counts for items on their menus.

This is believed a first for a US City to require chain restaurants to post the calories for specific items that are found on their menu.

The law took effect midnight on Friday night, and beginning on Saturday the NYC health inspectors are empowered to slap fines for as much as $2,000 dollars on casual dining and fast food chain restaurants that do business in the city.

They are now required to display the calorie counts for items on their menus in the same type font and format that the food and price items are posted in.

This is another move in the spirit of the 2003 ban on public smoking and the July 1 ban on artery clogging trans fats.

New York City is beginning to get used to these new and often-Byzantine type laws.

The rules affect such places as Burger King, MacDonald’s, Applebee’s, Dunkin Donuts, Subway and Starbucks.

Most of the food retail and business analysts feel that the overall effect on public shopping and consumer eating habits will be minimal.