Large-chain restaurants in Ontario may see a change to their menus this winter if the provincial government forces food outlets to provide nutritional information for every meal.
Kevin Cumming, caterer at Olga’s Deli and Catering on Bank Street, doubts the benefits of the legislation.
“I don’t believe in a food guide that can give generalized information for millions of people,”he says.
Calorie counts on menus should take into account that everyone’s bodies are different, Cumming says.
For more effective information, he suggests, the province could include three different calorie counts for three general body types so people can get a better idea of what nutrients they need.
The menu proposal aims to encourage Ontario residents to make more informed health choices and tackle childhood obesity.
Studies show that North American culture promotes over-eating and poor diets; the Harvard School of Public Health found that 62 per cent of Canadian adults were overweight or obese in 2008.
“The way society is now, both parents seem to have to work to support a family. So people don’t eat at home as much, and I think most people would do the quick fix option. I don’t think many families sit around the table anymore,” Cumming says.
The busy lifestyle of city residents and the accessibility of food outlets can make this societal problem worse for those living in cities such as Ottawa.
“Seventy-six per cent of Ottawa residents eat out, whether it is in restaurants or fast food chains or they pick up ready-to-eat food in a grocery store,” says Ottawa Public Health dietician Marketa Graham.
“These people that eat out are actually doing this more than three times a week,” she says.
The health impact these decisions have on Ottawa residents also leads to financial repercussions on the province as a whole.
In a research paper published by the Health and Fitness Journal of Canada, Peter Katzmarzyk found that in 2009, the economic impact of an unhealthy and obese Ontario costs the province $4.5 billion in health care.
“Menu labelling is a positive step in helping us to make better informed choices,” says Graham.
Graham says she believes that Ottawa residents make health decisions at the point of purchase and therefore nutritional information on menus will provide them with the right knowledge at the right time.
Graham also suggests that restaurants and fast food chains may begin to adapt their menus to include smaller portions or alter ingredients in meals to reduce the amount of sodium.
At present, all restaurants in Ontario operate by a voluntary system in which they do not have to provide certain information outright but may give nutritional information if requested.
Many chain restaurants already offer nutritional information on their menus.