Many U.S. chain restaurants are promoting "extreme eating" with dishes that pack at least a day's calories and fat, without giving customers facts about their orders, a consumer group said on Monday.
Displaying restaurant offerings including a cheese-laden chicken-and-pasta dish they dubbed "Angioplasta," officials at the Center for Science in the Public Interest said such dishes help fuel national epidemics of obesity and heart disease.
They urged local, state and national governments to make restaurants list nutritional data on their menus.
Michael Jacobson, the group's executive director, took aim at "table-service" chain restaurants like Ruby Tuesday's and Uno Chicago Grill. Such places increasingly stuff their dishes with extra unhealthy ingredients, he said.
"What we're finding is that table-service restaurants have launched into a whole new era of extreme eating," Jacobson said. "If we're going to deal with the epidemic of obesity and the tremendous prevalence of heart attacks and strokes, we're going to have to do something about restaurant foods."
Jacobson's group often criticizes at a variety of restaurant foods. Some critics deride the group as self-appointed food police.
Jacobson said restaurants have had more than enough time to voluntarily provide nutritional data such as calorie, fat and salt content but many do not.
"Restaurants have every right to make these foods and you have every right to eat them," Jacobson said. "But I think at the very least these restaurants should give consumers the information that would enable them to make some decent eating choices."
美國一消費者組織于本周一指出,美國很多連鎖餐廳目前正在力推相當于至少一整天熱量和脂肪的“極限飲食”,而且不向顧客說明所點食品中所含的成分。
比如有的餐館提供一種名叫Angioplasta的奶酪雞肉通心粉,公共利益科學中心的官員們說,這種食品會引發(fā)全國范圍內(nèi)的肥胖和心臟病。
有關官員敦促美國各地、各州和全國政府做出規(guī)定:餐館必須在菜單上列出食物中所含營養(yǎng)成分的具體數(shù)值。
此消費者權益組織的執(zhí)行主任邁克爾·雅各布森將類似Ruby Tuesday's和 Uno Chicago Grill等提供“桌上服務”的連鎖餐館作為此次行動的主要目標。他說,這些餐館提供的食物中所含的不健康成分越來越多。
雅各布森說:“我們發(fā)現(xiàn),這些餐館已開創(chuàng)了一個全新的'極限飲食'時代。如果要控制全國流行的肥胖、心臟病和中風,我們必須對這些餐館提供的食品采取點行動。”
雅各布森所在的這個消費者組織常對餐館提供的食物進行批評。一些批評人士嘲諷這個組織為“自封的食品警察”。
雅各布森說,餐館完全有時間主動向顧客提供食物中如熱量、脂肪和鹽等營養(yǎng)成分的含量。但很多餐館都沒有做到這一點。
“餐館有制作食品的權利,顧客有吃的權利,但我認為這些餐館至少應該向顧客提供能讓他們做出合理飲食選擇的信息。”