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October 9, 2009
Labeling a Failure
Dare we say “Told you so”? Because that’s the sentiment we have after a comprehensive study released this week shows that calorie labeling in New York City did not result in people eating fewer calories. (In fact, New Yorkers eating out actually consumed slightly more calories after the labeling went into effect.)
As one of the last groups defending the right of consumers to eat out without acquiring a super-sized guilt complex, we find the news music to our ears. We pointed out in testimony last year that state-sponsored calorie offensives aren’t an effective anti-obesity measure. And you might remember that researchers were also skeptical about the effects of requiring calorie labeling. As we told The Wall Street Journal today, “There wasn’t any proof that it would be effective.”
Oddly enough, even proponents admitted a lack of proof that labeling would work. Then-NYC Health Chief Thomas Frieden admitted last year that “we don’t have 100 percent proof that it’s going to work.” But the food police went hysterical about how menu labeling had to be done, damn the torpedoes (or the research).
As we’re telling the media about how the Big Apple’s fat warriors got routed at the Battle of the Bulge:
Menu labeling was never anything other than a state-sponsored guilt complex. New Yorkers have always known the difference between a banana and a banana split.
Whether it’s menu labeling, soda taxes, or salt shaker bans, New York City regulators seem dead-set on demonizing and regulating more aspects of New Yorkers’ personal lives.
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