New York City restaurant inspectors have a new piece of equipment — special cups that can hold up to 17 ounces — in order to ensure compliance with the mayor’s ban on supersize drinks.
Starting Tuesday, city inspectors will cart around the cups. Orders are to check for drink sizes that “clearly exceed” the 16-ounce limit, the New York Daily News reports.
City Health Department officials are going to be conducting regular inspections, starting Tuesday, to check specifically on soda serving sizes.
“The measuring cups that we will be issuing … will be able to contain 17 fluid ounces,” said Deputy Health Commissioner Daniel Kass in the Daily News. Violations will be issued when the cup “clearly exceed[s]” the 16 ounces, as “measured in the inspector’s measuring cup.”
The soda size limits are a Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg inspiration to attack obesity.
“Sugary beverages are a leading driver of the obesity epidemic that is killing more than 5,000 New Yorkers annually,” said a spokeswoman for the mayor’s office, Samantha Levine, in the Daily News report.
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But not all New Yorkers are enamored with the plan.
“Will they deploy sugar sniffing dogs to detect the amount of calories from sugar?” said Matthew Greller, a lobbyist for the National Association of Theatre Owners, one of the business groups trying to quash the new rule, in the Daily News. “Can someone please call Jerry Seinfeld and request a reunion show just on this ridiculousness?”
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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