• Advisory ID: 07-037
• Advisory Date: 9/17/2007
• Contact: Neil H. Greenberger  240-777-7939 or Jean Arthur240-777-7934
• From: Council Office

County Council to Hold Public Hearing on ‘Nutritional Labeling’ for Restaurant Menus

Montgomery Residents and Business Owners Will Be Able to Express Opinions on Proposal on Tuesday, Sept. 18

ROCKVILLE, Sept. 17, 2007—The Montgomery County Council will hold a public hearing at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 18, on a proposal that would to require chain restaurants with at least 10 national locations to include certain nutritional information on menus and menu boards in their Montgomery locations.

The public hearing on the bill proposed by Councilmember George Leventhal and co-sponsored by Councilmember Duchy Trachtenberg will be held at the Council Office Building at 100 Maryland Avenue in Rockville. The hearing will be broadcast live on County Cable Montgomery (CCM).

The public hearing will conclude a full day for the Council. Among the items for the morning session, which will begin at 9:30 a.m., will be the confirmation of Norman E. Pruitt as County Executive Isiah Leggett’s appointment to the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission.

On July 31, Councilmember Leventhal introduced a bill before the Montgomery County Council that would require a restaurant that is part of a chain of 10 or more national locations that offer the same type of menu to post the number of calories, grams of fat and grams of sodium on menus for any standardized menu item. Councilmember Duchy Trachtenberg is a co-sponsor of the bill.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) has advocated for legislation that requires restaurants to provide nutritional information. CSPI asserts that providing this information will allow consumers to make informed choices when dining in restaurants.

“Among the most important functions of government is to do whatever possible to protect the health and safety of our residents,” said Councilmember Leventhal. “Heart disease is the No. 1 killer of Marylanders and we think that our residents might like to be better informed about what they are eating in chain restaurants. By making this a region-wide program, we can help protect residents when they enter a chain restaurant regardless of what jurisdiction in which it is located.”

The Council’s Health and Human Services Committee is scheduled to hold a worksession on the bill at 2 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 24.

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