Chain Restaurant Menu Labeling Law

To facilitate healthier food choices, the Chain Restaurant Menu Labeling Law developed in Multnomah County, Oregon, required restaurants with at least 15 or more outlets in the US to post calorie counts and information on saturated fat, trans fat, sodium, and carbohydrates for all foods and beverages on all menus. Restaurants that used a menu board or a drive-thru menu board were required to post the calories content of each food item on the board and provide the rest of the information in a format that was plainly visible to customers when they are ordering.

Federal laws require that nutritional information be displayed on products available at supermarkets, but they do not require that food sold at restaurants be equivalently labeled. Therefore, customers can assume they are making healthy choices when, in fact, they are not. The Labeling Law provides basic nutrition information to chain restaurant patrons with the goal of promoting healthier food choices.

To enable consumers to make healthier choices when ordering food at chain restaurants.

The Chain Restaurant Menu Labeling Law took effect in March of 2009. In June, the Governor of Oregon signed the Oregon Menu Labeling Act. This law, based on Multnomah County’s pioneering efforts, adopts some the county’s regulations on food menu labeling as state law. The main difference between the county and state law is that the state law does not require the nutrition information to be displayed but rather to be available upon request. This is a compelling example of the influence a country health department can have on state policy.