Yum! Brands: adds a new menu item — calories

Louisville / KY. (wib) Yum! Brands, parent of KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, announces plans to begin posting product calorie information on the indoor menu boards nationwide at company-owned restaurants in the United States. Calorie information will appear next to a product´s name and price.

The action comes at a time when more states and municipalities in the U.S. are putting in place – or are considering – requirements for restaurant chains to post consumer nutritional information. This week Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law a bill that requires chains in California with 20 or more locations to post calorie information on menu items by January 01, 2011. A stricter form of nutrition labeling went into effect in New York City last July.

«We are a leader», says Jonathan Blum, Yum! senior vice president, who spoke with USA Today. «We hope all restaurants, supermarkets and convenience stores will follow». About 4’000 of Yum´s company-owned stores will begin to post calories on menu boards now. All 20’000 of the company´s stores will do so by January 01, 2011 – if not before, says Blum, who coordinates nutrition policy for all Yum restaurants in the United States. Yum also owns the Long John Silver´s and A+W All American Foods. Yum also will stop ads on TV shows aimed at children younger than twelve, Blum says.