Calories on Menus

Enforcing calorie count menus by law will cost the state tens of millions of euro to implement. The state will have to test, and re-test food used by food service outlets to make sure it is living up to the calorie counts.

Chefs are spending more and more time doing paperwork than in the kitchen. Turing chefs (a creative role) into food scientists & nutritionists.

We are calling for Education not Legislation – want to see Home Economics or Food Science equivalent mandatory in Second Level and need more comprehensive education on the Primary education syllabus

Proper nutritional information includes; total fat, calories from fat, saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol, sodium, total carbohydrates, dietary fibre, sugars, and protein – it is simply not feasible for a restaurant to provide all the above

Calories on their own are not a good measure of healthy menus. Calories are one part of calculating a healthy diet.

Calorie needs differ depending on a person’s age, gender, height, weight, and physical activity level.

Restaurants by their very design are for occasions and we, as an industry have confidence in our customers knowing a restaurant meal is just that, a treat!

We are at risk of stifling small business who cannot afford the administration of this and stifling the creativity of chefs

In the US, the FDA requires Calorie labelling for restaurants and similar retail food establishments that are part of a chain of 20, we would be in favour of the same in Ireland