What’s the deal with Canada’s new menu laws?

Potentially big developments are happening to the franchised restaurant sector as political parties are lining up to propose new laws relating to healthy eating.

Last month, the Ontario Minister of Health sponsored a bill entitled Making Healthier Choices Act, 2014 which, if passed, would require restaurant chains in Ontario with 20 or more locations to display the caloric content of their menu items. The bill specifically refers to franchisors so that there is no ambiguity regarding the application of the bill to individual franchised units. The bill requires anybody who operates a business that is subject to the proposed law to display the number of calories of every food or drink item on each menu or place where a list of those items is displayed.

This requirement would also apply to every food or drink item, whether or not they are sold from the actual restaurant premises, and separate display requirements also apply to combo meals. The bill would also reserve inspection rights for the Ministry, and offences would carry penalties of up to $1,000 per day for individual offenders, and up to $10,000 per day for corporate offenders.

In addition, the Ontario NDP proposed a bill in late 2013 which would similarly require the posting of caloric counts and notices of high sodium on all menu items, but which would apply to chains of five units or more with a gross annual revenue of over $5 million.

I do reserve skepticism regarding the actual impact that laws of this nature may be able to achieve. For anyone interested in the topic of restaurants being mandated to display health information, it would not take long to discover that there are many studies which reveal there is no effect at all on customer choices.