Nutrition information now more widely available in restaurants

USA TODAY, April, 2008

In his piece "Feeding the Obesity Epidemic," David Zinczenko attempts to scare consumers by feeding them misinformation about the restaurant industry (The Forum, March 25).

It's unfortunate that Zinczenko chose to sensationalize his analysis. He had the perfect opportunity to highlight the tens of thousands of restaurants that are providing nutrition information to consumers in a wide variety of ways -- on packaging, tray liners, posters, Web kiosks and brochures, as well as online.

He also omitted that nutrition information is available through multiple company-supplied resources for several of the items he "analyzed," even though he claimed the "typical American has no way to tell" the nutrition content of menu items.

Today, there is a positive and growing trend of restaurants offering more nutritious choices to consumers, as well as information about the menu items.

One example is the more than 55,000 restaurants nationwide that are participating in HealthyDiningFinder.com ...