United Press International reports on a new study from the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) about consumer desires in the area of nutritional labeling. Among the findings:
• "Seventy-seven percent of U.S. adults said they want calorie labeling for hot dogs, pizza slices and burritos sold at convenience stores."
• "81 percent favor having supermarkets provide calorie information for their prepared restaurant-type foods, such as rotisserie chicken, sandwiches and soups."
• "70 percent of U.S. adults favor having movie theaters list calories on menu boards and 68 percent favor having chain restaurants list calories for alcoholic beverages."
Americans just want to know what they're eating," Margo G. Wootan, director of nutrition policy at CSPI, said in a statement. "Menu labeling at chain restaurants will be enormously helpful. But it doesn't make sense to create loopholes for certain companies, when that's not what Congress intended and it's not what people want."
• "Seventy-seven percent of U.S. adults said they want calorie labeling for hot dogs, pizza slices and burritos sold at convenience stores."
• "81 percent favor having supermarkets provide calorie information for their prepared restaurant-type foods, such as rotisserie chicken, sandwiches and soups."
• "70 percent of U.S. adults favor having movie theaters list calories on menu boards and 68 percent favor having chain restaurants list calories for alcoholic beverages."
Americans just want to know what they're eating," Margo G. Wootan, director of nutrition policy at CSPI, said in a statement. "Menu labeling at chain restaurants will be enormously helpful. But it doesn't make sense to create loopholes for certain companies, when that's not what Congress intended and it's not what people want."
- KC's View:
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I don't mean to cast aspersions on a perfectly respectable organization, but I'd love to know how the questions were phrased.
Now, if CSPI had come out with a survey saying that people didn't want such labeling ... and then made an argument for why the government needs to mandate such information anyway ... then I would have been surprised.
And I say this, by the way, as someone who believes in total transparency when it comes to labeling. But I also can recognize a potentially rigged game when I see it.
