LITTLE ROCK — With high-altitude dining, we often think more about what’s in the chicken or the beef than about how it will affect our waistlines. We may never know the former, but we will soon learn the latter.
The Food and Drug Administration has set in motion restaurant labeling rules that require a host of food providers to display calorie counts. The list includes coffee shops, bakeries, delis, pizza joints, cookie stands and that culinarywasteland, planes. All airlines departing from U.S. soil, including foreign-based carriers, must adhere to the law.
Margo Wootan, nutrition policy director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, which worked on the legislation, explained that when the law goes into effect (expected to happen early next year), airlines will have to provide in writing the calories of “menu” items. For carriers, this equates to in-flight entrees, snack boxes and other edibles listed in the seat pocket literature. Peanuts, pretzelsand other munchies handed out by flight attendants are exempt.
“Calorie disclosure is tied to the menu board,” Wootan says. “If the airline has a menu of what’s available, offered or sold, then it will have to list the label.” She says passengers will most likely find the figures in the food and beverage section of the airline’s magazine, on a pamphlet or in the menu card often distributed to passengers in first class or on international flights. The carriers also must have on hand nutritional data for theindividual items, such as the amount of sodium, cholesterol and fat.
Additionally, the law applies to airport establishments that are categorized as chains as well as train dining cars.
“When I travel, I find that I am wasting calories on food that isn’t tasty,” Wootan says. “The healthier choices aren’t that obvious.” For example, on a recent flight from LaGuardia, which already posts the numbers per a local law, Wootan discovered that the ham and cheese sandwich was a wiser choice than the salad.
Travel, Pages 61 on 10/31/2010