Fast food chains drop FSA calorie displays on menus
A number of fast food chains in the UK - including KFC, Burger King and McDonalds - have boycotted the plan devised by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) to display calorie counts on food menus.
The FSA wanted to make it clear to customers just how many calories they were consuming with their meals, in attempt to tackle Britain's obesity crisis. The organisation wanted fast food outlets to display calorie counts clearly on menus and next to products.
However, displaying calorie counts in this way isn't legally required; so many outlets have dropped the idea after an initial trial. KFC and Burger King have not made a commitment to extend the trials so far, whilst Pizza Hut and Mitchells and Butlers have dropped the scheme completely.
This said, some companies are making more of an effort to keep customers informed as to the healthiness of what they are consuming. Starbucks and Costa Coffee offer a nutritional leaflet in-store (but only if a customer asks a food job worker for one) and Pret A Manger displays a calorie count on all products. Most fast food outlets offer this information on their websites.
Is a calorie count display really that important?
Most customers eating at fast food outlets are unaware of the amount of calories in what they are eating. For example, a Pizza Hut pizza can contain as much as 2,656 calories (an adult male's daily allowance) and a Starbucks carrot cake can be a quarter of an adult female's daily intake at 560 calories.
The FSA wanted to make it clear to customers just how many calories they were consuming with their meals, in attempt to tackle Britain's obesity crisis. The organisation wanted fast food outlets to display calorie counts clearly on menus and next to products.
However, displaying calorie counts in this way isn't legally required; so many outlets have dropped the idea after an initial trial. KFC and Burger King have not made a commitment to extend the trials so far, whilst Pizza Hut and Mitchells and Butlers have dropped the scheme completely.
This said, some companies are making more of an effort to keep customers informed as to the healthiness of what they are consuming. Starbucks and Costa Coffee offer a nutritional leaflet in-store (but only if a customer asks a food job worker for one) and Pret A Manger displays a calorie count on all products. Most fast food outlets offer this information on their websites.
Is a calorie count display really that important?
Most customers eating at fast food outlets are unaware of the amount of calories in what they are eating. For example, a Pizza Hut pizza can contain as much as 2,656 calories (an adult male's daily allowance) and a Starbucks carrot cake can be a quarter of an adult female's daily intake at 560 calories.
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