Nutrition labeling in King County
On March 12, 2008 the King County Board of Health adopted changes to the menu labeling regulation originally adopted on July 19, 2007. King County and the Washington Restaurant Association worked together closely to agree upon changes that will provide King County residents with valuable nutrition information in many King County chain restaurants. Nutrition labeling is required for only standard items on the menu for more than 90 days.
The new nutrition labeling regulation now requires chain restaurants with 15 or more national locations to provide calorie, carbohydrate, saturated fat and sodium information on menus, menu boards or other approved methods. The information should be available to customers at the point of ordering.
For chain restaurants with a menu board (overhead menu), calories must be provided in one of the following ways:
- on the menu board next to each standard menu item,
- on an easy-to-read sign posted next to the menu board, or
- on a sign located at eye level at the point of ordering.
Calories must be displayed in a typeface similar to other information about each menu item and no smaller than 40-point font. Since menu boards provide calorie information only, information for the other three nutrients must be available in a clear and visible format at the point of ordering.
For a restaurant that uses a menu, there are several approved methods for displaying the nutrition information:
- as an insert to the menu
- as an appendix attached to the back of the menu
- as a supplemental menu, which shall look the same as the regular menu and contain nutrition information for all standard menu items
- in an electronic format – such as a kiosk – at the table
Nutrition labeling meeting minutes (PDF)
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Nutrition Labeling Stakeholder Committee:
Members of Public Health, the food industry and food establishments, worked together to inform, review, provide comment and offer suggestions for meeting the nutrition labeling regulations.
The stakeholder committees began meeting regularly in October 2007 and will continue to meet, as needed.
Nutrition Labeling Stakeholder meeting
Wednesday, June 4, 2008, 9:00-11:00 am
Chinook's at Salmon Bay (Fisherman's Terminal)
1900 W. Nickerson, Seattle [MAP]
Read past meeting minutes:
Do you have a comment or question for Public Health about the new regulations on trans fat or nutrition labeling?
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