SAN JOSE Calif. The Santa Clara County board of supervisors will begin to research the feasibility of creating a law aimed at battling childhood obesity by limiting the use of toys, digital games and other incentives in the marketing of restaurant meals to kids.
Supervisors voted 4-0 this week, with one board member absent, to grant its fourth district representative Ken Yeager’s request to have by April 27 pending language for a measure to prohibit the use of toys to market kids meals that do not meet certain, but not yet specified, nutritional standards.
The measure, if put forth, would only impact restaurants in the unincorporated areas of Santa Clara County, or those businesses not within cities. That means an ordinance, if passed, may impact relatively few operations, though just how many remains to be determined as part of the research to be undertaken by Santa Clara County administrative staffers, a Yeager spokesman said.
Daniel Conway, a spokesman for the California Restaurant Association in Sacramento, Calif., said his group “doesn’t see the link between taking toys from kids and battling childhood obesity.”
“We have quite a few unanswered questions about it, in terms of its scope and its feasibility,” he said.
Conway noted that the importance or relevance of Yeager’s proposal, whether on target or not, may be substantially reduced by the passage this week of federal legislation requiring nutrition labeling on menus and menu boards at chain restaurants. That soon-to-be law of the land is intended to provide parents with more information about the foods they are about to buy for their children.
Still, armed with statistics from some studies from government and non-profit advocacy groups, Yeager indicated that restricting how restaurants market meals high in fat and sodium to kids can have an impact on their quality and length of life.
“While not a panacea in and of itself, this ordinance would be another component of our strategy to improve the health of children in our county,” Yeager said in a statement after the board vote.
Yeager said that in 2006, the Federal Trade Commission estimated that restaurants sold 1.2 billion meals accompanied by toys to children under 12. He further noted that while there are currently no nutritional standards for meals marketed to children, a 2008 study by the Center for Science in the Public Interest found that 10 out of 12 meals exceeding the recommended caloric limits for children came with toys.
“It’s hard to compete against the barrage of games and gimmicks,” Yeager said. “While parents are trying to teach their kids proper eating habits, corporations are marketing unhealthy food directly to children using incentives like toys or free digital media.”
The restaurant association’s Conway contended that the restaurant chains are actually marketing the types of foods their customers ask for and regularly update their menus to reflect those requests.
“There is a lot more variety and diversity there [on kids menus] then there was five or six years ago,” he said, pointing to the rising number of children’s meal bundles offering options such as milk, bottled water or non-carbonated beverages, whole-grain buns, grilled chicken or fruit.
Published reports have reported on similar legislation outside the U.S., including in Brazil, where a court has been asked to bar the inclusion of toys in kids’ meals. Some Chileans have reportedly proposed a new law along similar lines, and Spain’s Health Ministry has backed legislation to not only bar the use of toys in kids’ meals in restaurants, but also in the marketing of foods sold in grocery stores.
Contact Alan J. Liddle at [email protected].
