Nutrition Information Bill Passes Senate

The California State Senate approved a bill that requires large chain restaurants to provide nutritional information on menus and menu boards. The information required in Senate Bill 1420 would include calories, grams of saturated fat plus trans fat, grams of carbohydrates and milligrams of sodium. But fast food menu boards would only have to list calories for each item. Last year, Gov. Schwarzenegger vetoed a similar bill passed by the Legislature. This month, however, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health released a study that indicated that posting calorie information on menus and menu boards at large chain restaurants (with 15 or more outlets) could affect the menu items that consumers select. The bill now goes to the Assembly.