Democratic New York City mayoral hopeful Christine Quinn said one of her first priorities if elected next year would be to impose calorie limits on menu items offered at fast-food restaurants like McDonald’s.
She would impose the limits by legislation or by rules through the Board of Health, she said in The New York Post.
“You’ll still be able to order whatever you think is right for your children,” she said in The Post. “But we’re saying that companies can’t spend millions of dollars on marketing or include items on children’s menus if those foods clearly are going to lead to obesity.”
Ms. Quinn is currently City Council speaker. She said children’s meals served at private restaurants should abide by the same federal meal standards for schools, The Post reported. In schools, lunches can’t be more than 650 calories, or contain more than 7 grams of saturated fat and 740 milligrams of sodium.
A McDonald’s cheeseburger Happy Meal serves up 875 milligrams of sodium. And Ms. Quinn’s standards would hit at Applebee’s, too — there, a grilled cheese and fries child’s meal has 1,210 calories and 21 grams of saturated fat.
Andrew Moesel, a spokesman for the state’s restaurant association, appealed to Ms. Quinn to stay out of the private restaurant business, The Post reported.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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