New online MenuCal resource to help put calories on menus
FSAI develops free calorie calculator for Ireland's foodservice businesses, but Restaurants Association says it will cost industry €110 million
Print15 April 2014
The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) has unveiled ‘MenuCal’ – a new online calorie calculator that it is making available to Ireland’s 22,000 food service businesses free-of-charge to enable them to calculate the calorie values in the food they sell and serve to customers.
The online tool, which was launched by Dr James Reilly, Minister for Health, was developed to address the food industry’s concern about the lack of the expertise and resources to accurately calculate calories for display on menus and the associated costs involved.
First of its kind in Europe
In response, the FSAI brought together a team of nutritionists, computer scientists and food business trainers to create a bespoke, easy-to-use solution for the Irish market that would act as a resource to assist chefs and cooks identify calorie values, taking account of types and quantities of ingredients used, method of preparation and portion size. MenuCal is considered a first of its kind in Europe and the FSA says it has already received interest from other jurisdictions wishing to adopt the system.
The MenuCal tool incorporates over 450 useful tips and prompts depending on ingredient and recipe type. It includes an initial 2,000 popular food ingredients which users can add to and customise, based on their own recipes. It also provides a secure and safe place for chefs and cooks to keep personalised recipes and maintain files of their most popular dishes under password protection.
96% of consumers want calories on menus
In 2012, the FSAI carried out a consultation with interested parties examining the feasibility of adopting a ‘Calories on Menus’ scheme. At that time, the report recommended a voluntary scheme to allow a period of time for the development of a system, including technical tools, to support the food service sector. A recent survey by the FSAI of 1,000 food businesses highlighted that some 60% of respondents were in favour of providing calories on their menus, given the demand from consumers (96% in favour).
Dr Mary Flynn, chief specialist: Public Health Nutrition, FSAI, said that MenuCal addresses the technical obstacles to putting calories on menus in food businesses in Ireland. She added that those food businesses who want to be at the forefront of consumer service will be the ones who will benefit and gain competitive advantage by displaying calories on their menus.
Industry opposition
However the Restaurants Association of Ireland (RAI) has said introducing legislation forcing restaurants to display calorie counts on their menus will cost the industry €110 million or €5,000 per year for each establishment.
It added that the new MenuCal calculator will require chefs to manually input data for each dish; taking each chef on average five hours per week, 20 hours per month, to complete a 40 item monthly menu.
The association said it was also concerned that the data provided by the MenuCal calculator may be in breach the Consumer Protection Act 2007.
MenuCal can be tried and tested at www.menucal.ie.
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