A voluntary scheme aimed at encouraging takeaways, restaurants and canteens to advertise how many calories are in each item on their menus will be introduced within six months in the latest move to tackle Britain's mounting obesity, the government's Food Standards Agency said last Thursday.

This move is in response to a survey carried out by the agency last summer of more than 2,000 adults. 85% of respondents felt that restaurants, pubs and cafes had a responsibility to make clear what was in the food they served.

Men in Britain now get 25% of their food energy intake outside the home, while women get 21%. A number of chains, including KFC, Starbucks and McDonald's, already offer nutritional information on websites or leaflets, but now the catering industry will be expected to go far further. Officials at the agency hinted that if the calorie counting was a success, the drive for information could lead to an extension of the traffic light scheme, which applies to food sold in grocery stores.

Tim Smith, chief executive of the FSA, also suggested that TV chefs ought to be doing more to give calorie and nutrition information: "I think there will be television producers who start waking up to the idea simply providing recipes is not enough."

Whilst the new scheme is not going to be policed, how will voluntary compliance affect those employed in the food sector? For the big chains with standard menus, the cost of implementing this is likely to be minimal, but what about the impact on the local family owned restaurant that entices customers by offering an ever changing menu? How about our chefs? Will they arrive at work and go straight to the calculator to work out whether today's special will be over the calorie limit?