Nutritional labelling scheme will cost too much

The British Hospitality Association has said the Food Standard Agency's decision to display nutritional information on restaurant menus was not thought through properly and will add further costs to already struggling catering businesses.

Bob Cotton, the association's chief executive said that despite the scheme being voluntary, it is another burden for businesses: "Our greatest fear is that a statutory approach might be adopted if a sufficient number of catering businesses do not take it up. If that happened, individual restaurants just would not be able to cope."

The principle of the scheme, which the Agency hopes will be adopted by large catering companies, appears to follow a similar scheme operating in New York.

However, John Dyson, the BHA's food and technical affairs adviser, said that the effectiveness of the American scheme had not been evaluated.

He said that the association was very surprised that the FSA had embarked upon a project which would cost businesses significant sums of money at a time when the industry was experiencing the worst recession in living memory.

Dyson said: "The association recognises the obesity challenge and we support the recent efforts by the government to persuade members of the public to change their diet and lifestyle. However, we have serious concerns about this latest initiative. There is no evidence, either in this country or New York, that demonstrates that the display of calories on menus will result in consumers changing their diet."

But consumer group Which? has welcomed the decision saying that more information for diners is a good thing and that catering businesses should be getting on board: "Consumers don't need to be told what to eat, but they should be provided with enough information to make up their own minds. Supermarket product labelling has helped, but as soon as you eat out at a restaurant or grab a sandwich from a coffee shop, watching what you eat instantly becomes a guessing game.

"After a successful launch in New York restaurants, this is a good place to start and food outlets should be open and support the FSA's scheme. Many people may discover that their lunchtime sandwich, or Friday night takeaway has a lot more calories and fat than they ever imagined. We also hope it will encourage the catering sector to work on new healthier ways to keep the taste up and the calories down."

Words: Clare Riley

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