This month America became the first country in the world to adopt a federal law requiring grocers, restaurants and vending machines with 20 or more sites or stores to provide calorie counts for their menu items. Will it have a positive impact on reducing the incidence and level of obesity in the US?

Americans do a lot of their eating outside of the home these days. More than half of the money spent on food goes to restaurants and convenient on-the-go meals — not to groceries cooked at home. On any given day, a third of US adults and children eat out at a fast food restaurant. When we dine out, we eat more. People typically consume 20-40% more calories in restaurants compared with what they’d eat at home.

This is one of the largest policy initiatives yet aimed at addressing obesity in America. Sara Bleich, professor of public health policy at the Harvard Chan School, said that menu labelling led to restaurants:

• reformulating and reducing average calories in their menu items
• dropping the highest calorie items from their menus

The benefit from menu labelling is not because you or I change our behaviour, it’s because restaurants start reformulating.

What are other countries doing?

In Australia, a voluntary menu label scheme was first introduced in 2011 by the Federal Government. To date, New South Wales, South Australia, ACT and Queensland have made the display of kilojoule counts mandatory.

In Ireland, including calories on menus was introduced in 2015 on a voluntary basis.

What about New Zealand?

New Zealand takes the bronze medal for obesity, after the US and Mexico. We also eat out a lot – Statistics NZ data shows that New Zealanders are spending more on restaurant meals and takeaways, and less on grocery items. About 36% of the food budget is now spent in restaurants and on ready-to-eat meals, hot drinks and takeaway foods. About 34% goes on grocery foods and 30% on fresh produce, meat and fish.

The Australia and New Zealand Ministerial Forum on Food Regulation will be closely following the outcomes of the US legislation in order to provide informed choices for consumers, and a framework within which the food industry can work efficiently.

Watch this space!