Wednesday, June 03, 2009

Flying Pig Served at Australian McDonald's?


Not unless you think the photo above is helpful.

To summarize, apparently McDonald's Australia is pushing for the mandatory posting of calories in fast food restaurants and their submission has received very positive play both in the news and the blogosphere.

So what exactly is going on? Click here and you can read Peter Bush's, the CEO of McDonald's Australia's submission to the Australian's Parliament's Standing Committee on Health and Ageing's inquiry into obesity in Australia.

To quote from the submission,

"McDonald's Australia calls for the Federal Government to introduce mandatory nutrition labelling for quick service restaurants."
Sounds good right? Pig droppings falling from the sky good right?

Um, not so much.

Let's read the next line,
"By nutrition labeling we are referring to the Nutrition Information Panel"
What's a nutrition information panel?

It's a poster on the side wall of a restaurant that has lots of small print that no one reads or in some cases, a trayliner or a panel on the food itself (as in the photo above). That's a far cry from menuboard calories and according to a recent study I blogged about out of Yale, something that virtually no one ever bothers to look at.

Sorry folks, nothing to see here - just a pig wearing fake fairy wings.