Healthier Kids’ Meals with Toys Bill Introduced in NYC

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Food and beverage marketing, including toy giveaways, can influence children’s food preferences, food choices, diets, and health, and Latino kids are specifically targeted more than others when it comes to food marketing.

On August 21, New York City Council Member Ben Kallos introduced legislation that would set nutrition standards for those restaurant kids’ meals that are accompanied by toys, games, trading cards, or other incentives .

According to the press release, a meal that met the health standards would include:

• 500 calories or less;
• Fewer than 35% of calories from fat;
• Fewer than 10% of calories from trans fats;
• Fewer than 10% of calories from sugar and fewer than 600 mgs of sodium; and
• A serving of fruit, vegetable or whole grains.

Food policy advocates hope legislation like this would improve the nutritional quality of restaurant kids’ meals—over 95% of kids’ meals at the top chain restaurants are unhealthy.

Violating the new regulations would resulting in monetary fines, increasing with each offense.

“Throughout the fast food industry, you’re seeing that toys are being linked to meals. And as a result, we have a very high obesity rate,” explains Kallos.