NEW YORK - A restaurant trade group asked a court Friday to outlaw a new city regulation that would require some eateries to list calorie counts on their menu boards right next to the price.
The New York State Restaurant Association filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, asking that the rule be declared unconstitutional and that it be awarded unspecified damages.
The association said the rule would apply only to a small group of restaurants -- effectively punishing those that have made efforts to tell the public the nutritional facts about food on their menus.
The city law due to take effect July 1 targets big, national fast-food chains. It applies only to restaurants that were already making calorie information available voluntarily as of March 1.
The association argued the regulation infringes on the First Amendment rights of the affected restaurants and has chilled their desire to provide the facts to customers at all.
According to the regulation, calorie counts would have to be displayed on eatery menus in the same type-size as the name of the dish and the price.
The city has estimated that only 10 percent of New York City restaurants will be subject to the regulation, the lawsuit said. Of the association's more than 7,000 members, nearly 1,000 are located in New York City.
In a statement, the city Health Department said the rule merely requires restaurant to provide the information in a manner so that customers will actually see it.
"It is unfortunate that some restaurants are so ashamed of what they are serving the public that they would rather go to court than share this information with their customers," it said.
