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Lawsuit aims to chop menu info
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SAN FRANCISCO (Map, News) - A federal lawsuit served up by fast-food chains is threatening to nix San Francisco’s plan to require chain restaurants to list nutritional information on their menus.
The California Restaurant Association, which represents chains including McDonald’s and Burger King, filed the lawsuit late Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco against both The City and its Public Health Department.
The complaint seeks to invalidate the menu labeling ordinance, which goes into effect Sept. 20, claiming it is unconstitutional. The law requires restaurants with more than 20 locations statewide to post calories, carbohydrates, fat and sodium on their menu.
On Monday, California Restaurant Association President Jot Condie said the San Francisco ordinance was inflexible and would hurt local restaurateurs. Condie said the issue should be handled at the state-level to avoid a vexing patchwork of local laws.
A municipality having a menu labeling law that differs from a neighboring municipality’s law creates a lot of confusion, not only for restaurants but consumers, Condie said.
City Attorney Dennis Herrera said the 59-page lawsuit was nearly as bloated as Burger King’s Triple Whopper Sandwich with Cheese.
“I think it’s outrageous that fat-peddling chain restaurants are asserting a First Amendment right to keep consumers uninformed about the nutritional contents of their menu items,” Herrera said in a statement.
The City’s menu-labeling ordinance does not ban or restrict a single food, it requires that consumers have better data to make choices. City attorney spokesman Matt Dorsey said he was encouraged by the failure of a similar challenge to New York’s menu labeling law in April. In that case, U.S. District Court Judge Richard J. Holwell held that the city’s ordinance is not pre-empted by federal law and does not violate the First Amendment.
Comments from Examiner Readers
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Examiner Reader said:
This guy is married tries to bang his employees as much as he can. A real bad guy.
1 agree | 13 disagree
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Gaza George said:
Let them eat and drink. Too many hemp products can be harmful to the multinational restaurant bottom line. Go liquor holes.
10 agree | 9 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
I was very surprised by the comment. When we go to eat at Chef Paolino, I always take the kids to a table first and either my husband or I order for all of us. Our first time there, we all took a menu to a table and then my husband went up and ordered for the family. I think the writer just misunderstood.
258 agree | 233 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
On the evening of 09/07/07 my family and I went to eat at this restaurant for dinner at 5:30 pm. Being our first time there I questioned if they would seat us or should we seat ourselves. The employee advised me we had to go order our food then we could seat ourselves. I ask him if I could please sit first. In my arms was my handicapped 5 year old daughter who from Spinal Bifida can not walk, my husband was carrying our 3 month old son and I had 3 other children with me ranging from 7 to 9. I explained to him I could not continue to hold her and go order my food due to her wait. It would be impossible to hold her and order, pay, ect. Even after explaining why I needed to be seated first he refused to do so. My family and I had to leave that establishment and to say the least was very dissatisfied with our first experience at the Chef Paolino Cafe.I believe this restaurant needs to change there process of ordering and seating customers. This process is very difficult for the handicapped
432 agree | 257 disagree
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Anon said:
Chef Alex Powell's enthusiasm for his work and his creations comes across well in this article. As a food connoisseur and a lover of island flavors, it will be my priority to visit the 701 Restaurant. The chef takes me back to my own roots where the belief is that you can never go wrong with simple, natural ingredients. Way to go chef and welcome to DC!
324 agree | 272 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Sounds like a typical visit to most restaruants these days. Steak are always "iffy" I try to avoind them because a chef will tell you fat on a steak helps retain juices, but I don't like fat. Also, if I see a sauce on anything I avoid it. especailly at a place where I have never eaten. I had a friend that was a professional chef. I was grilling steaks at my house one day and asked him to show me how he made his steak taste so good. He rubbed both sides with salt.
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