Weighing in on the new law for fast food restaurants in NSW

by Alisha Smith | Monday, November 08, 2010

The November 7th edition of The Sun-Herald reported on a new law being introduced into Parliament this week, forcing fast-food chains such as McDonalds, KFC and Pizza Hut to prominently display kilojoule counts.

Touted as a move to counter Australia’s growing obesity epidemic, fast-food companies will have until February 1, 2012 to comply with the edict which will see kilojoule values printed next to each item (at least to the same size as the product price).

In addition, fast-food outlets will also be required to display a statement that the average adult energy intake should not exceed 8700 kJ daily, in an effort to have patrons calculate the nutritional value of each item.

While I believe that any step towards reducing the individual risks and social burden that obesity places on Australians every year is admirable, I can’t help but feel that, for the majority of people who lunch with The Colonel and then visit Ronald and the Hamburglar for dinner, the numbers will seem trifling at worst and confusing at best.

I completely believe that personal responsibility needs to play the key role when choosing the food that goes in your mouth but (and it’s an obese one) if Average Joe simply doesn’t know that 19.8g is a LOT of saturated fat, or that 1200mg of sodium in a 6 inch meatball sub is excessive, how can we expect him to take the numbers with anything other than yet another grain of salt?

After all, will the staff behind the counters at Macca’s be informing Average Joe that the large fries, Big Mac and large chocolate shake on his tray contains 75% of all the energy he should consume in one entire day? Hmm… I think not.

Weigh in on the issue- do you feel that displaying the numbers is enough? Will it encourage people to choose the salad over the burger? What else could the government do to arrest this drastic rise in obesity?

Posted by: Anonymous | 08-Nov-2010 07:04 PM |

Agreed that fast food is a problem for the average Joe who knows nothing of kilojoules and calories. Why stop there though? Let us go and attack the poor business owner who runs a cafe. Will he need to place a caloric expenditure list alongside his cheesecakes?

When does it ever come back to the responsibility of the consumer?

Regarding the government - perhaps lowering the cost of living and taxes. Fast food is such an 'easy' option as it is quite cheap!

Posted by: Anonymous | 08-Nov-2010 09:51 PM |

I Agree! When is it going to become the responsibility of the consumer? What about the responsibility of the parents...to feed their children the right kind of food. How bout educating kids at school what is the right kind of nutrition. Im a firm believer in prevention is the best cure. If education can start from the parents and from school the we are one step closer to better health as a society. When I was a kid o some 17 years ago there was no way in hell my parents would ever let me or my sibling eat any of that fast food. It was always home cooked meals. For this i make healthy choices as an adult. As does my brother. But now all too often you see mums and dads at the shopping centers feeding their kids as young as 2 with Mac Donalds!! What ever happen to a wholesome home cooked healthy meal?! Don't tell me that you have time constraints... That's a load of BS. If you don't have time then why are you hanging out at the shops for 3 or 4 hours chatting with yours friends on a weekday feeding you kids maccas??!
I don't have any issues with the adults eating junk... It's their own choice to eat bad food and get fat. But what gets me is that the young children don't know any better and they have these adults who should know better are setting them up for a life with weight problems. Those kids didn't have a choice. They didnt know any better. And no one ever says anything. No one looks down on this?!

Joe average can make an informed descision if he wants to. A kilojule counter wont stop Joe frim eating a juicy succulent fatty burger. Stop spoon feeding our society and let people take some responsibility for their own choices.

Posted by: Average Joe | 09-Nov-2010 08:16 AM |

Anonymous 2, you write with logic and clarity. Perhaps there is a link between home-cooked nutritious meals and commonsense...

Posted by: Ariel Gonzalez Motivate You Fitness & Personal Training | 19-Nov-2010 12:34 PM |

I think there are many reasons for large takeaway consumption......Advertising, faster-paced lifestyle, etc etc.

Displaying calorie or kilojoules and education are a great start.

It is blatantly apparant that more needs to be done from a social and personal perspective. Also, the number of people who simply dont know how to cook is staggering, we see this with a numbre of our personal training clients

Posted by: Kamahl Barhoush | 27-Nov-2010 01:18 PM |

Finally a move in a productive and energising direction. Wonderful comments, thanks contributors.

There are a couple of very specific things that need to be done before real change will occur:
1. EDUCATION: This most defiantly start at home. Schools can teach all the nutritionally sound lessons in the world, but if the child then goes home to a world of fast food, fad diets and processed chemical ingredients what hope do they have? The comments about taking responsibility for what you are eating are spot on. People must also however, take responsibility for the education of their children rather than palming it off to the schools. As trainers, you all have access to the parents of these children and can play a role in educating the parents to educate their kids.

This education MUST be around avoiding going to these fast food outlets REGARDLESS OF WHAT THE SELL.
There is a very good reason for this........

2. Avoid Going To The Fast Food Outlet must be #1 priority in the education 'how to'.
These companies are advertising healthy choices, paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for Heart Foundation 'Ticks', and putting a spin on their advertising dollar that reads: Socially responsible with healthy choices.

The reality is that these same companies are doing anything necessary to get you in the door (the ads always run around topical news stories of the day), once in the door, they have then spent millions getting you to buy their signature, highest margin products.
I have heard this first hand.
Colour combinations, menu layouts, in store advertising with embedded commands (ask any NLP practitioner about these, I know this because I am one) - all lead to customers to the highest profit items.

Healthy choices ads get them in the door, commanding in store protocols get them buying the food they want them to buy.
BIG MACS STILL OUTSELL ANYTHING ELSE ON A MACCAS MENU...and they haven't been 'advertised' in years.
Healthy choices kids meals....I know of fast food stores where one carton of sultanans to go with the healthy choices menu sat in their store for almost a year. Salads and apple slices are poor performers on the sales front across the industry - I could go on for hours.

Check out what Sherry Strong has to say about these foods - she has some SCARY facts.

What can you do?

Educate yourself on the advertising strategies used as well as the healthiest way to eat and feed a family, then you will be an information powerhouse for yourself and your clients and especially their families.

Let's blow this issue apart once and for all!

Posted by: Anonymous | 22-Dec-2010 06:29 PM |

Forget the energy counts, focus on sodium and saturated fat. Those are the two things I see my friends and family consistently eating far too much of, and don't realize just how bad their diet can be when eating outside of home.