I too want to praise Yum! Brand Foods, right along with the Association of State and Territorial Public Health Officials for its commitment to put nutritional information on its menu boards of Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, KFC, and Long John Silvers restaurants.
Yet, should it really take until January 1, 2011 to make this change? When Taco Bell comes out with its new Volcano Taco all of the Taco Bell menu signs in America change instantly—so what’s the hold up with the nutritional numbers?
I really don’t need to ask the question though–we all know why the Hut, the Bell, the Colonel, and Long John are going to take so long to put the digits up on the board–we would all be terrified to know at this very moment precisely how many calories are in those Chalupas we down, the stuffed crust pizza we crave, and those fish and chicken planks that call our name from the “drive-thru”.
My guess is that Yum! is going to undergo a little “slim-down” before calories get slapped up on the menu boards nationwide. Maybe I’m wrong. But I bet if I knew what I was eating during my late night run for the border I’d think twice and so would you–and that’s what Yum! is thinking about, too.
Regardless of how many calories are in your Chalupa, other fast-food chains should follow suit and make nutritional information more accessible than some impossible to find paper menu that you have to hunt down inside the restaurant and no one but the daytime manager knows how to find. All restaurants should plaster their menus with their caloric, fat, and other nutritional info–it’s the least they can do to allow their consumers to have the chance to be healthy.
Summer Johnson, PhD