Assessing the Early Impact of Menu-Labeling on Calories in Chain Restaurants in Ontario, Canada

Abstract

Introduction: The objective of this study is to investigate the early impact of Canada's first provincewide mandatory menu-labeling legislation on calorie levels in foods offered on chain restaurant menus before, leading up to, and at the point-of-implementation.

Methods: Data were obtained from Menu-FLIP, a database of publicly available nutrition data from chain restaurants in Canada. Data were collected in 2010, 2013, 2016, and 2017. Core food products, newly introduced products, discontinued products, and full menus were compared before (2010, 2013, 2016) and at the point-of-implementation (2017) of the policy. Calories and serving sizes of 2,988 unique foods (excluding beverages) from 28 chains were analyzed using mixed models comparing time points while controlling for covariates. Sub-analyses were stratified by restaurant type.

Results: Full menu mean calories and serving sizes increased between 2010 and 2017 (>40 calories and 17 grams, respectively). There were no significant changes in mean calories or serving sizes among core menu items (p=0.47). New products in 2013 and 2017 were significantly higher in calories and serving size versus discontinued foods and foods already on the menu. Discontinued foods did not differ in calories or serving size compared with foods already on the menu; however, in 2017, the calories of discontinued foods in sit-down restaurants were higher than foods discontinued in 2013 (p=0.02).

Conclusions: The results of this investigation show that at the point-of-implementation of the Ontario Healthy Menu Choices Act supply-side calories in core food products, new products, or full menus evaluated in this study did not significantly change.