Calorie counts on menu: Now City Hall is interested

First, Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky proposed requiring nutritional information on restaurant menus. Now, the L.A. City Council is getting into the act. City News Service has this dispatch from City Hall:

Large chain restaurants in the city of Los Angeles would have to provide nutritional information on printed menus and menu boards under a motion introduced today by a city councilman.

Earlier this week, the county Board of Supervisors decided to draft an ordinance to require restaurant chains in unincorporated parts of the county to display how many calories are in their menu items.

Los Angeles City Councilman Jose Huizar's motion, which was referred to the Arts, Parks, Health and Aging Committee, asks the city attorney to write an ordinance that would require chain restaurants in the city with 15 or more outlets in the state to provide basic nutritional information per item on menu boards.

The Times' Rene Lynch recently examined the issue and came away with this fact, from Dr. Jonathan E. Fielding, Los Angeles County's director of public health:

Fielding likes to start with a quiz: Which McDonald's items have the most calories: two Big Macs, two Egg McMuffins, a large shake or four hamburgers? Almost everyone points to the pair of Big Macs. But it's the shake, with nearly 1,200 calories.

Photo: Ed Ou / Associated Press