Larger Restaurant chains now required to show calories
2022
In a move by the Government to combat obesity and assist consumers in making healthy choices, large food and drink businesses with over 250 employees are now being required to display the number of calories in meals on their menus, websites, and on delivery platforms. The new rules only apply to non-prepacked food and soft drinks.
The new regulations, which have come into force today, have received mixed responses from within the hospitality industry.
UK Hospitality CEO, Kate Nicholls, believes the new rules have come at the "worst possible time for thousands of businesses struggling to survive".
"We've long called for a delay to the implementation of calorie labelling, and we'd like to see a grace period post-April to allow businesses breathing space in which to implement the new rules without the risk of unnecessary enforcement action from day one,".
"It's completely unfair to expect businesses devastated by Covid to all of a sudden introduce complicated and costly new labelling when they've much more pressing matters to attend to - recouping their losses of the past 24-months for a start."
A link to the new regulations “The Calorie Labelling (Out of Home Sector) (England) Regulations 2021” can be found below.