Study: Fast Food Labeling Doesn’t Work
As part of health care reform, the federal government has plans for a nationwide launch of mandatory nutrition information at the point of purchase for fast-food chains with 20 or more outlets. But will it make any difference? Not if the experience of King County, Washington, which includes Seattle, is any indication:
Researchers found, in the 13 months after the legislation went into effect, food-purchasing behavior at the Taco Time locations in King County was identical to that in Taco Time locations where menu boards remained unchanged. The total number of sales and average calories per transaction were unaffected by the menu labeling.
Full article on mandatory menu labeling. HT to Tyler Cowen.
Oh no. How will I make it through the day. Depression is descending upon me.
It does not surprise me that displaying calorie counts has little effect on consumption. People who are concerned about calories can Google an item and find out the amount. There’s a phenomenon where people believe they can couple a healthy food item with an unhealthy one and it somehow miraculously erases the calories from the bad item. Ordering a Big Mac with a small salad doesn’t remove any of the calories or fat from a Big Mac.
hmmm, then maybe playing this over and over would work.
Duke University should look into it.
Some consumers will make decisions based on calories, as we do on cost. However, calorie counts have not really been rocket science to figute out anyway. Those who don’t care now are not likely to start just because the calorie information is more obvious.
I’m with Bruce. I’m heart broken. Sniff. Sniff.
I’ve seen other research that shows posting calorie counts do change consumer behavior. One anecdote isn’t proof, but I know I stopped buying muffins and bagels when I go to Starbucks the minute they started posting calorie counts.
I think the real proof that calorie posting will change consumer behavior is found in the reactions of the major fast food chains to their postings. First, the cost of including calorie counts on menus is close to zero. Second, major corporations are motivated by solely bottom line issues. They don’t care at abstract issue of their freedom to omit calorie counts from menus, only how including sales will be affected by including calorie counts. Their universal opposition to including calorie counts on menus is proof that including calorie counts on menus works.
Oh, sure you can find out on the web, but seeing the information contemporaneous to ordering is orders of magnitude more effective.
If the politicians can’t balance the buget, fund the pension plans or win a war in some impoverished country, what’s left that they can do? Try to tell you what to eat?
I’m sort of in the middle on this one. I know how many calories are in my favorite McDonald’s meal, but that doesn’t always stop me from ordering it. However, there are some good days when my self-control prevails.
If you are trying to lose weight, avoid fast food altogether. If you haven’t figured that out by now, calorie labeling won’t help.
artk, I have not been able to (re)find it but the research you are citing is, I believe, a study of Subway, which common sense suggests attracts a more health conscious clientele than fast-food restaurants that serve fried food.
Calorie-labeling is likely more about junk lawsuits than junk food. The trial lawyers have been busy developing a strategy to profit from fast food ever since an infamous New York case a few years ago, when a couple of obese girls sued McDonald’s.
The suit failed, but McDonald’s settled, and so have nine other defendants in similar cases. And they have just begun: The Public Health Advocacy Institute’s 5th Conference on Public Health, Law, & Obesity met in Boston in 2008 to discuss our “broken food system” – a term more appropriate to Darfur than America.
I can see the next junk-food lawsuit already: a class action against Jack-In-The-Box for selling a Bacon Ultimate Cheeseburger that’s ten calories more than what’s posted on the board.
I don’t know about a class action because a calorie count was off by 10, but I did see one was filed against Taco Bell because they discovered that their “Beef Taco” contained almost no beef.