Calorie counts on menus now required in Quezon City

RESTAURANTS, fast food chains, and other similar establishments operating in Quezon City are now required to display the calorie content of their menus.

The new ordinance will apply to QC restaurants or food enterprises that are a part of a food chain or franchise that has five or more locations nationwide during the first year of its implementation.

It will cover the same businesses with two or more branches the following year.

It will include all eateries and food-related enterprises in the third year.

While compliance with the ordinance approved by Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte is not required, ambulant vendors, hawkers, and carinderia owners that follow it will receive incentives.

“With calorie labeling, QCitizens have the power to make healthier food choices because they have the correct information,” Belmonte said in a media briefing on Thursday.

Data from the QC Health Department shows that almost 1 in 5 adult residents have high blood pressure. 

Forty-three percent of adults and 19.9% of school-age children were found to be overweight or obese in 2018 alone.