Peninsula Daily News news services
WASHINGTON — Movie theaters don’t hesitate to wag a stern finger at their patrons: Shhh! Turn off your cellphone. Don’t talk during the movie.
But don’t ask them to tell you how many calories are in that jumbo tub of popcorn.
The federal government on Friday released proposed rules requiring chain restaurants and other businesses that serve food to post calorie counts on menus and menu boards.
But after objections from theater chains, the rules give a pass to those box-office snacks — even though a large popcorn and soda can contain as many calories as a typical person needs in an entire day.
Researchers have found that large tub of movie theater popcorn (and that’s before they pour on the buttery topping) range from 400 to 1,200 calories, with one to three days’ worth of saturated fat and up to 1,500 milligrams of sodium.
Make it a combo and add 300 to 1,110 calories worth of candy and another 150 to 500 calories from a sugary soft drink to wash it all down.
The new disclosure rules also exempt alcoholic beverages served in restaurants, including beer, wine and high-calorie mixed drinks like margaritas and daiquiris.
The Food and Drug Administration said it would accept consumer and industry feedback on the rules before finishing them, hopefully by the end of this year.
They are expected to go into effect some time next year, said Michael R. Taylor, deputy commissioner for foods at the FDA.
“This is a really important and positive step in providing consumers information that they can use to choose healthy diets and fight obesity,” Taylor said.
The health care overhaul law passed last year included a provision that required chain restaurants and similar establishments that served food at 20 or more locations to display calorie counts for menu items.
The proposed new rules, which would spell out how the law would be applied, would take the place of a grab bag of menu-labeling laws that already exist around the country, including in New York City and California.
The restaurant industry supported a federal labeling rule so that it would not have to comply with a range of different regulations.
A preliminary FDA document on the rules released last summer would have included movie theaters.
But Taylor said officials decided to write the rules so that they would apply only to establishments whose primary purpose was to sell food or where at least half the floor space was dedicated to food sales.
Under the change, the law also would not apply to bowling alleys, carnivals, airplanes and other establishments where the primary purpose was not the sale of food.
But it would cover convenience stores and supermarkets that offer ready-to-eat items like hot dogs, deli sandwiches or rotisserie chicken, as long as they were part of a chain of sufficient size.
In such establishments and in restaurants, each item on a salad bar would have to be labeled to show how many calories were in a serving.
Taylor said the rules would not cover alcohol sold in restaurants because the FDA does not have jurisdiction to regulate alcohol.
