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NJ nanny-staters seek to regulate fast food calorie counts

Did I tell you that the lame-duck legislative session is ripe for all kinds of idiotic mischief making? A new law wending its way through our state Senate would require fast food and chain restaurants to post calorie counts for all edible items.

Because precisely what the slumping NJ business community needs is more burdensome regulations!

Following the lead of New York City, Philadelphia and four other states, New Jersey would require restaurants with 20 or more locations to include calorie counts for all food and beverages on printed menus, menu boards and drive-through window signs, according to the bill. A registered dietitian would have to attest that the calorie counts are accurate.

And what our beleaguered taxpayers need are more bureacrats on the state payroll! They'll have to hire inspectors to check for the calorie count notices and make sure they're printed in the correctly sized font. Then a herd of calorie auditors will fan out across the state to check the posted numbers for accuracy.

And I'm sure that nobody thought the cost of hiring "registered dietitians" would be zero, and of course that cost will be passed on to the consumer.

Heck, I didn't even know that our state "registered" dietitians! What's the penalty for hiring an "unregistered" dietitian? How can we tell the difference?

I know, I know, I'm like a broken record with this whole "free will" and individual liberty thing. But, come on man! Governor-elect Christie has pledged to reduce the size and scope of state government. How does a whole new bureaucracy to regulate fast food help him accomplish that goal?

Posted at 10:23 by Chris Wysocki   [/nj_politics]   Comments | Archived | Perm Link |
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