Theater Owners: No Calorie Counts on Our Popcorn!

But FDA rules loom
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 23, 2011 12:49 PM CDT
Theater Owners: No Calorie Counts on Our Popcorn!
Do you really want to know how many calories this contains?   (©CLF)

The FDA's final decision on publishing movie theater calorie counts is looming, and theater owners are fighting tooth and nail. Final rules could come from regulators today, forcing theaters to disclose exactly how many calories are in those huge buckets of popcorn, oversized pretzels, and other prepared foods, just like restaurant chains are already required to do. But "we're not restaurants where people go to eat and satisfy themselves," says the counsel for one theater trade group. "It's dinner and a movie, not dinner at a movie."

Ever since the FDA indicated last year that it would apply the calorie count rules to grocery stores and concession stands, as well as restaurants, theater owners have been lobbying for exemption, the Los Angeles Times reports. And considering one of those tubs of popcorn is the equivalent of three Quarter Pounders plus a whole lot of butter, "the least they could do is tell people about it," says a nutrition expert. "Just because you happen to be doing something else while you're eating doesn't mean that those 1,000 calories won't stop going to your waistline." (More popcorn stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X