McDonalds Adds Calorie Counts to Menus Beginning Sept. 17

OAK BROOK, Ill.Beginning Sept. 17, McDonalds will list calorie information on restaurant and drive-thru menus at its nationwide locations to further inform and help customers and employees make nutrition-minded choices. The fast-food chain is rolling out the new menu labeling ahead of new federal menu labeling laws requiring restaurant chains with 20 or more locations to post calorie counts on menus that are expected to take effect sometime after the presidential election.

New York City, California, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oregon and Vermont already have laws that require calorie labeling in chain restaurants. Companies, such as Panera Bread and Au Bon Pain, already have amended their menus to reflect calorie counts; however, McDonalds is the first fast-food chain to reflect calorie counts on menus.

The menu labeling rule applies to chain restaurants and similar retail food establishments. Consumers would see calories listed in restaurants and similar retail food establishments that are part of a chain with 20 or more locations doing business under the same name and offering for sale substantially the same menu items. Examples of these establishments include fast food establishments, bakeries, coffee shops and certain grocery and convenience stores. Movie theaters, airplanes, bowling alleys, and other establishments whose primary purpose is not to sell food would not be subject to this proposed regulation.