In a bid to encourage better health, the borough of NDG – Cote-des-Neiges wants to force large restaurant chains to list the nutrition value of their foods on menus.
This spring, they’ll introduce new measures asking that menus list calories, sodium and sugar levels.
”They're part of our strategy to get people to eat better and be more active, fight obesity and make people healthier,” said Snowdon city councillor Marvin Rotrand.
Currently only at the discussion phase, it's not even certain that the borough can force the measure.
It's not without precedent, however. Ontario is planning to force calorie data for all food and beverages, including alcohol, that's sold in restaurants, supermarkets, and convenience store chains.
Still, it has some restaurant owners worried.
“Clearly we would have to have every standard item we have on the menu analyzed to see what's in it and then we would have to reprint the menu on a constant basis when we change things. Of course there would be costs,” said Jean Lefebvre, Quebec vice president of the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association.
Furthermore, fast food chains such as McDonalds already post nutritional information on their website and Lefebvre said they shouldn't have to list this information twice.
Rotrand disagrees.
“Not everybody has a smart phone and not everybody wants to go to a website before they order a quarter pounder,” he said.
And while some welcome the added knowledge, others also argue that fast food is a guilty pleasure.
“I think when I eat at McDonalds, generally I know what I'm
