In today’s health-conscious age, it seems a given that chain restaurants would share nutritional information to better inform their customers. And yet, several pizza restaurants, including Domino’s, Papa John’s, Little Caesars, Godfather’s Pizza and Pizza Hut, have banded together to fight legislation requiring them to post calorie content right on their menus.

According to opponents of the legislation, patrons can customize pizza in an unlimited number of ways, resulting in calorie counts that vary wildly from pizza to pizza. “There are 34 million different ways that you can make a pizza. That’s an actual number, we did the math. Can’t really calorie label that on a board,” said Lynn Liddie, a spokesperson for Domino’s pizza.

What’s more, the coalition of restaurants says that 90 percent of their customers place orders over the phone and don’t consider calorie count in the first place. Plus, legislation would require calorie information for an entire pizza, but consumers only eat 2.1 slices on the average.

As a way to help combat the growing problem of obesity, Congress required menu labeling as part of health care reform in 2010. Under the proposal, restaurants with 20 or more locations must disclose calorie information directly on menus or menu boards. Other nutritional information, like sodium and fat content, would only be made available upon request.

What do you think? Do the pizza restaurants have a valid argument? Or does the consumer’s right to know what they’re eating take precedence?

[CNN]

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