A recent article published by Megan McArdle makes the stand that having transparency in nutritional information of food we buy is not a good thing. Specifically, she makes this claim based off of the recent trend of people demanding caloric information from fast food chains and restaurants. Her point is not that these calorie counts actively hurt anybody, but that they are a waste of time, citing an article posted by the Huffington post concerning the topic. While the study they conducted concerned found that calorie counts did not change most people's decision to order fast food, it misses the point entirely. Megan goes on to cite a completely unrelated topic to bolster her position, attempting to link the transparency of mortality rates of people undergoing surgery to the transparency of nutritional information. While transparency might not alter the choices of most people that eat fast food, expecting companies to provide this information is fully reasonable and fully within our rights as consumers.
Consumers have a right to know what they are buying, and what they are eating. People do not consume fast food such as Burger King and McDonalds because they are seeking healthy food. They are eating fast food with the full knowledge that it is not good for them. This alone does not mean that, as customers, we don't have a right to know what we are eating. Fast food, similar to food found in a grocery store, is mass produced and has a consistent nutritional make-up. The author's point that it costs companies money to research the number of calories in each of their products is irrelevant, since it is something they are only required to do once in the same way that products on the shelves of grocery stores are required to. Restaurants that produce fresh, quality food are not necessarily bound to this same restriction, as their food is different every time it is made.
While the image above may be a misleading representation of fast food ("few calories"), companies such as McDonald's have made an effort to add calorie counts to their menus in the past few years. Again, I reiterate that the point of these calorie counts is not necessarily to stop people from eating this kind of food (in the case of McDonald's, they are trying to do the opposite). The point is simply that an educated public is one that can make more informed choices. Heavily processed foods should have nutritional information listed so that these decisions, good or bad, can be made by the individual rather than by the corporation. The next time you plan on eating fast food, take the time to understand what you are eating. Not only are calories important, but nutritional information about your food is readily available to you if you are curious enough to ask for it.
The issue of companies such as McDonalds using these calorie counts to advertise their food as healthy is a concerning issue, but is not the result of requiring them to provide information about their food. It is simply the product of a marketing team driven not by morals, but by profit. Of course you would be hard pressed to find anything vaguely resembling the word "healthy", but this does not support the point made by the author. It stands as a separate, but related, issue surrounding corporate greed. Calorie reporting on its own is not malicious, nor is it detrimental to society. At its core, it can only help by education the public about their food and allowing them to make the right (or wrong) choices without being ignorant of the consequences.
Consumers have a right to know what they are buying, and what they are eating. People do not consume fast food such as Burger King and McDonalds because they are seeking healthy food. They are eating fast food with the full knowledge that it is not good for them. This alone does not mean that, as customers, we don't have a right to know what we are eating. Fast food, similar to food found in a grocery store, is mass produced and has a consistent nutritional make-up. The author's point that it costs companies money to research the number of calories in each of their products is irrelevant, since it is something they are only required to do once in the same way that products on the shelves of grocery stores are required to. Restaurants that produce fresh, quality food are not necessarily bound to this same restriction, as their food is different every time it is made.
While the image above may be a misleading representation of fast food ("few calories"), companies such as McDonald's have made an effort to add calorie counts to their menus in the past few years. Again, I reiterate that the point of these calorie counts is not necessarily to stop people from eating this kind of food (in the case of McDonald's, they are trying to do the opposite). The point is simply that an educated public is one that can make more informed choices. Heavily processed foods should have nutritional information listed so that these decisions, good or bad, can be made by the individual rather than by the corporation. The next time you plan on eating fast food, take the time to understand what you are eating. Not only are calories important, but nutritional information about your food is readily available to you if you are curious enough to ask for it.
The issue of companies such as McDonalds using these calorie counts to advertise their food as healthy is a concerning issue, but is not the result of requiring them to provide information about their food. It is simply the product of a marketing team driven not by morals, but by profit. Of course you would be hard pressed to find anything vaguely resembling the word "healthy", but this does not support the point made by the author. It stands as a separate, but related, issue surrounding corporate greed. Calorie reporting on its own is not malicious, nor is it detrimental to society. At its core, it can only help by education the public about their food and allowing them to make the right (or wrong) choices without being ignorant of the consequences.
References
- Calorie Labels At Fast Food Restaurants Don't Make A Difference, Study Suggests. Huffington Post, 2013. Web. 14 Mar. 2014. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/15/calorie-labels-fast-food-menu-restaurant_n_4269147.html>.
- McArdle, Megan. Spare Me Your Transparency, Please. Bloomberg View, 2014. Web. 14 Mar. 2014. <http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-03-06/spare-me-your-transparency-please>.