Recently a bill was passed by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors that states that restaurants cannot give away toys in their meals unless they meet certain health requirements regarding fat, calories and sodium. The bill, which blatantly takes on the Happy Meal, was headed by Supervisor Eric Mar after he became horrified by his daughter's growing collection of free toys. He believes this new rule is a way to counter the fatty, salty fast food. Mr. Mar has said that he hopes this will act as an incentive for fast food companies to "provide better choices".
A spokeswoman for the company has said that she does not believe that this is what customers want "nor is it anything they asked for". The mayor, Gavin Newsom, was also not pleased with this new ban and had hopes to veto it because he does not think this will fight child obesity. The boards counter fact was that roughly 30% of the city's fifth graders are overweight, which is an extremely scary statistic considering the Happy Meal is aimed towards their age group. "Under the bill, any meals will have to have fewer than 600 calories, fewer than 640 milligrams of sodium and less than 35 percent of calories from fat (with an exception for some healthy items, like nuts)." If restaurants fail to adhere to these policies, then no toy for their customers.
I believe that this is a smart move for the city as child obesity is one of the biggest growing problems in the country. I think that this will be an incentive for children to choose healthier options as the toy is the rewarding piece of the meal. Hopefully this new standard will convince fast-food restaurants to serve healthier meals as they will begin to see what their customers are drawn too.
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