Eating Out: Nutrition Information

by Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

Remember the dieter's plate? For many years, it was the only menu item that really catered to the health conscious among us. It usually came with cottage cheese, several pieces of fruit, and a few crackers neatly arranged atop a lettuce leaf. If you looked carefully, you could usually spot it on the menu between other such fine restaurant fare as gelatin cubes and fruit cocktail in syrup.

These days, restaurants have a lot more to offer consumers concerned about calories and cholesterol, fat, and other nutrients that may help reduce their risk of certain diseases. Menus now may carry items ranging from low-fat, low-calorie tostados to full-course meals featuring seafood or chicken dishes that are low in sodium and fat and high in fiber and vitamins A and C. And restaurants boast about their nutritionally modified dishes with symbols, such as a big red heart signifying that the dish fits in with a diet that is consistent with general dietary recommendations or with claims such as "low fat," "light," or "heart healthy."

But the question is: Are these claims accurate and can they be trusted?

Regulations from the Food and Drug Administration effective May 2 are designed to ensure that the answer is "yes." The regulations, published in the Aug. 2, 1996, Federal Register, apply the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act (NLEA) of 1990 to restaurant menu items that carry a claim about the food's nutritional content or health benefits.

Under NLEA, FDA established regulations mandating specific nutrition information on the labels of most store-bought products and set up criteria under which nutrient and health claims can be used in food labeling. Claims like these that appear on signs or placards in most restaurants have been covered by the requirements of the food labeling regulations since 1994.

The new menu regulations affect all eating establishments — whether a small-town corner tavern or a big-city four-star restaurant, a grocery store deli or a deli that delivers. All will have to follow requirements for nutrition and health claims for menu items that bear a claim and give customers the appropriate nutrition information for these items when requested.

"The idea is for the claims to mean the same thing wherever they show up — on food labels in the store or on menus in a restaurant," said Michelle Smith, a food technologist in FDA's Office of Food Labeling.

Eating Out in the 1990s

According to Smith, nutrition and health claims on menus can help people better understand the role of diet in health and choose restaurant foods that contribute to a healthy diet.

This is important, considering that more and more Americans are eating their meals outside the home. According to the National Restaurant Association, Americans spent 44 percent of their food dollars outside the home in 1996, up from 25 percent in 1955.

According to the association's report, Tableservice Restaurant Trends — 1995, more than half of consumers 35 and older and 2 out of 5 consumers 18 to 34 look for lower fat menu options when eating out. Also, restaurateurs report that their customers are increasingly requesting meatless dishes.

The frequency with which eating establishments have been catering to these preferences by making claims about menu items is not well known. In its final rule on claims for restaurant foods, FDA cited information from the National Restaurant Association's annual menu contest, in which the group found that 89 percent of all printed menu entries had at least one nutritional or health claim. But it is not known how representative this number is for menu practices across the country.

In 1996, after a federal district court ordered FDA to include menu claims under food labeling regulations, Bruce Silverglade, legal director for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, said in a press statement: "For years, many restaurant menus have made misleading health and nutrition claims from 'low fat' claims for high-fat desserts to claims that foods flavored with Chinese herbs will lower blood pressure and improve vision. A restaurant menu should not be a work of fiction." (CSPI and another public advocacy group, Public Citizen, filed suit in 1993 against the government for excluding menu claims from the labeling regulations.)

There are indications that interest in healthier restaurant fare is growing. Heart Smart Restaurants, an Arizona-based company that helps restaurants, food processors, and vending companies develop and promote products suitable for nutrition and health claims, has seen a steady rise in the number of its restaurant clients since the early 1990s. Judy Peters, director of customer relations for the company, reports that the company's restaurant clients now number in the hundreds and offer from one to many Heart Smart dishes. The clients are located across the country and include both single restaurants and national chains, ranging from juice bars to steakhouses and ethnic restaurants.

Heart Smart is among a number of companies, health professionals, and other consultants that offer such services to restaurants, usually for a fee. Their services are not endorsed by FDA because, as a federal agency, FDA cannot endorse any particular third-party certification programs.

On a smaller scale, the health, fitness and nutrition program of Suburban Hospital in Bethesda, Md., a suburb of Washington, D.C., found considerable interest from area restaurateurs in its Heart Healthy Restaurant Program. This program, which helps chefs create and promote heart-healthy foods on their menus, signed up 20 fine-dining restaurants within a county-wide area in the first six months of its operation, according to Linda Dolan, a registered dietitian and director of Suburban's Well Works program. Many of the participating restaurants offer Italian and French cuisine.

Look to the Menu

FDA's regulations permit restaurants to promote their healthier menu fare using the following:

Specific claims about a menu item's nutrient content: for example, low fat or high fiber. These are known as nutrient claims.

Claims about the relationship between a nutrient or food and a disease or health condition: for example, a dish that is low in fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol might be able to carry a claim about how diets low in saturated fat and cholesterol may reduce the risk of heart disease. These are known as health claims, and they may initially appear on the menu in simple terms, such as "heart healthy." Further information about the claim should be available somewhere on the menu or in other labeling — for example, with the accompanying nutrition information that must be provided on request.

About the Author

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