Requires certain restaurants and food establishments to post the caloric value and fat and sodium content per serving

2. Franchisors or corporate owners are responsible for the nutrient analysis based on the Commissioner's standards and need to provide the information to individual restaurants or establishments for listing on the menus and to the Commissioner if requested. The nutrient content listed should be within 20% of a representative item. Chains have the option of labeling the medium size or range of sizes when the same item is offered in different sizes.

3. Chain restaurants and food establishments are defined as one of at least 10 establishments nationally and one of at least 5 in New York State doing business under the same trade name and offering predominantly the same food and menus. Supermarkets are exempt except for sections within the store that the Commissioner determines are chain restaurants or food establishments.

4. Health inspectors are only required to check for the menu listings; the Commissioner can ask franchisors or corporate owners for documentation of the accuracy of listings. Violations for individual establishments result in civil penalties for failure to list information and violations for franchisors or corporate owners are for failure to document the accuracy of menu listings or failure to provide them to their businesses.

Effects of present law which this bill would alter

Adds a new Section 1352-d to the Public Health Law.

Justification

Obesity rates in adults doubled over the last twenty years. The percent- age of seriously overweight children tripled in the past two decades. The NYC Health Department found that nearly half of elementary-aged children are overweight. According to the NYS WIC Association over 32% of the children age 2-5 who are participating in New York State are overweight or at risk of being overweight. This leads to illnesses such as diabetes in young children. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) research estimates that one in three U.S. children born in 2000 will become diabetic in their lifetimes because of obesity. A study commissioned by the CDC found that $75 billion is spent nationally each year on obesity-related medical costs, half of it with public dollars through Medicaid and Medicare. It was estimated that $3.5 billion of New York's Medicaid spending is due to obesity, by far the highest level of any State.

During the time when obesity has been rising, Americans are increasingly eating meals away from home and food businesses spend hundreds of millions of dollars encouraging children and their families to do it even more. In 1970, Americans spent just 26% of their food dollars on foods prepared outside their homes but today spend almost half of food dollars eating out. The average American consumes about one-third of their calories from foods from restaurants and other food-service. establishments. Portion sizes have been increasing and studies show that people tend to eat greater quantities of food when they are served more. It is not uncommon for a restaurant entree to provide half of a day's recommended calories, saturated and trans fat, and sodium. Children eat almost twice as many calories when they eat out compared to home. A recent Surgeon General's report on obesity recommends increased nutrition information on foods eaten away from home.

Since 1994, consumers can get nutrition labeling on packaged foods at the supermarket. However, they are now getting more and more of their food from restaurants and other food service establishments than years ago and they cannot tell that a sweetened.coffee drink at one chain may have as many fat and calories as a cheeseburger with fries at another. Food industry critics of government efforts to fight the obesity problem claim that it is up to parents to choose healthier foods to eat. Chain restaurant nutrition information could empower parents, and children, to do a better job.

This proposal would only apply to large restaurant chains of 10 or more stores nationally with at least 5 in New York. The chains would have to offer predominantly the same food and menus. These chains have standardized menus and. offerings which make it easier to provide nutrition information for the products as offered on the menu or menu' board. The responsibility for analyzing the foods rests with corporate headquarters. The labeling requirement for those chains would only apply to items listed on the printed menu as they are typically prepared and offered for sale. One-day specials or special orders by customers would not have to be analyzed and labeled. Many chains have this information on their websites now and they want to serve items the same way each day from store to store for quality control so customers get what they expect. This proposal does not mandate what food restaurants serve or how they cook it.

Some health experts believe this generation of children will be the first in history to have a shorter life expectancy than their parents because of the obesity epidemic. Everyone, including food businesses, needs to be part of the solution or we will all pay the consequences.

Fiscal implications for state and local governments

None.

Effective date

180 days after becoming law and provides for necessary regulations to be implemented prior to that date. LEGISLATIVE HISTORY : S. 3787 of 2007/2008 A.5520 of 2003 - reported referred to codes A.5220-A of 2004 - ordered to third reading rules cal. 421 A.5664-A 2005 - reported referred to codes SUMMARY OF AMENDMENTS : Puts responsibility for nutrition analysis on franchisors and corporate headquarters. Limits responsibility of health inspectors to checking for presence of menu or menu board listings. Limits violations for individual restaurants to failure to list information; limits violations for franchisors and corporate headquarters to failure to provide information to their establishments or failure to document the accuracy to the Commissioner.