Third of restaurant-goers say ‘no’ to calories labelling

A third of British restaurant goers would not want calorie labelling on restaurant menus, with 44 per cent of these saying it would ‘ruin’ their restaurant experience, a new poll has revealed.​

The poll comes after Health Secretary Andrew Lansley warned the industry he is prepared to make calorie labelling on menus compulsory​, to tackle rising obesity levels.

But the flash poll, conducted by restaurant voucher outlet MyVoucherCodes.co.uk, showed that 32 per cent of respondents were against the health secretary’s proposals.

One in five of these respondents, 19 per cent, said that they would rather not know to avoid feeling guilty, while 44 per cent said it would ‘ruin’ their restaurant experience.

One in five, 19 per cent, of the respondents wanted calorific information shown only ‘healthy options’ on the menu; whilst 11 per cent said  that it was the ‘customer’s duty, not the restaurant’s’ to make themselves aware of nutritional content.

Results​

When asked, “Do you want restaurants to display the calorie information of meals on the menu?” just 27% of respondents answered “yes.” 32% stated “no,” whilst the remaining 41% stated they were “unsure.” Of those who were “unsure;” the majority, 64%, explained that it would ‘depend on the restaurant and meal type.’

However, over half of the total 1,009 people questioned said that they would like to have the calorie information ‘available on request’, rather than printed on menus.

Mark Pearson, chairman of MyVoucherCodes.co.uk, said: “Although restaurants do have a responsibility to provide customers with the nutritional content of what they are eating; responsibility also has to be in the hands of the customers to make an informed meal decision.

“Restaurants should perhaps produce leaflets stating the nutritional content of their meals, available at the customer’s discretion, rather than putting it on the menu. This would avoid difficulties with those who do not want to know, but nevertheless give the option to those wanting to find out more.”