Wednesday, March 21, 2012

How Many Calories Are In Movie Popcorn?

Ezra Klein:
Among its many provisions, the Affordable Care Act requires chain restaurants to label their menus with calorie counts. The Food and Drug Administration is writing the final ground rules on this but has found itself entangled in a big fight over one seemingly small provision: Should the regulations cover movie theaters?
Movie theaters lobbied aggressively against the idea (Bloomberg News had a great story on this). And, in draft rules, they were successful: The FDA decided that movie theaters were among a small handful of establishments that serve food but would not have to provide lists of caloric content (amusement parks, airplanes and trains also fall into this category).The ice cream parlor lobby was, apparently, less successful, as its establishments are among those that will have to provide menu labels.
Now, as the FDA works on the final rule, consumer advocates are pushing back, circulating a petition to get movie theaters covered. They argue that since movie theater food tends to be very high in calories, consumers should know what they’re getting into. “Did you know that one medium popcorn from Regal Cinemas contains 1,200 calories?”
According to the video he posted, that's a medium popcorn WITHOUT the butter topping.  Who spends all that money for popcorn and doesn't top it off with six ounces of buttery, salty grease?  It isn't this guy.  And while we're at it, who gets the medium, when the extra large is only fifty cents more?  Again, not this guy.  I'm going for a whole day's worth of calories in a single tub.  Yes, please refrain from posting that information, because it might cause some psychosomatic reaction in me.

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