Seen on the news wires:
Sunday was the start date of New York City’s first-in-the-nation ban on the fats ? and the requirement that restaurants post calorie counts. But visits to many restaurants suggested they were in no rush to comply with the second rule.
McDonald’s Corp. and Burger King Holdings Inc. were among chains that ignored the rule requiring that certain fast food restaurants list the counts next to menu items in type that is at least as large as the price.
City officials were not planning to issue fines for violations of the new rules until Oct. 1. Before then, the New York Restaurant Association hopes a lawsuit in federal court will get the calorie rule thrown out.
Well, if the inspectors weren’t planning to issue fines for three months, it’s perhaps understandable that certain restaurants are slow to comply. However, I’m at a loss to see how a lawsuit would be successful, except perhaps on the basis of a municipality overreaching its authority.
I mean, if a health department is empowered to order a class of ingredient out of the restaurant, surely it has sufficient authority to impose certain standards on information provided on the menu.