Michelle Garvie

NTR 522: Public Policy Paper

November 7, 2015

Public Policy Paper N.Y.S. Bill S00779

Explain the policy in detail using your own words. (Can you provide the reason for the
policy?)
On January 7th, 2015, Bill S00779 was introduced to the New York State senate,
which sets the nutrition standards for restaurants distributing incentive items aimed at
children. This bill would amend the current health law to allow the New York State
Commissioner of Health to impose nutritional guidelines for meals that are sold in
conjunction with an incentive item used as a marketing tool to appeal specifically to
children.
To clarify terms, the meals referred to in this bill are defined as a combination of any
food and drink for one price. Incentive items are toys, trading cards, admission card, games,
online codes or vouchers, or any other item that serves as an additional enticement for the
child to purchase and consume the meal. This bill would apply to any foodservice
establishment such as a restaurant, caf, coffee shop, diner, short-order caf, fast food
establishment, or any other business that offers the sale of food and beverages to be
consumed on or off the premises.
If this bill is signed into law, it will allow the Commissioner of Health to exercise
control over the nutritional content of meals that are sold to children using incentive items.
The Commissioner of Health will be able to set fruit, vegetable, and whole grain content
minimums and calorie, fat, and sodium content maximums in the meals sold as described.
This bill is an attempt to regulate fast food that is often high calorie, high fat, and high
sodium, and marketed specifically to children in an effort to establish nutritional standards
to help curb the rates of childhood obesity and other chronic diseases related to pediatric
over-nutrition.

Discuss how this policy will affect the nutrition field and the health of individuals.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that 17% of children and
adolescents ages 2-17 are obese (Ogden et al., 2014), and at least 34.9% of adults are obese
(Ogden et al., 2014) in the United States, as of the latest data from 2012. The objective of
this bill is to increase the quality of nutrients contained within fast food meals marketed to
children through controlling the content of such meals. In doing so, the amount of sodium
and empty calories from fat and added sugars contained within the fast food meals would
decrease, leading to healthier fast food meals marketed to children.

Michelle Garvie

NTR 522: Public Policy Paper

November 7, 2015

Vikraman, Fryar, and Ogden (2015) found that in 2011-2012 34.3% of all children
and adolescents were consuming fast food on a day to day basis, and that about 13% of the
caloric intake of children and adolescents ages 2-17 was from fast food (Vikraman, Fryar, &
Ogden, 2015). Vikraman, Fryar, and Ogden (2015) also found that 12.1% of children and
adolescents ages 2-17 consumed more than 40% of their daily calories from fast food
(Vikraman, Fryar, & Ogden, 2015). Johnson et al. (2008) have shown that sugar sweetened
beverages and calorie dense foods such as those found in fast food and convenience food
meals are associated with excessive fatness in children (Johnson et al., 2008; Johnson et al.,
2008).

How will it affect your future career?

Much of the future of dietetics will be addressing the consequences of childhood
obesity, including weight management, early-onset Type II Diabetes, pediatric kidney
disease, pediatric and adolescent heart disease, early-onset arthritis, and other weight-related
chronic illnesses. The passage of this bill could lead to healthier eating amongst those who
are the most vulnerable to poor eating habits: children who rely on fast and convenience
foods for a large portion of their caloric intake. Providing healthier options in convenience
food locations could make managing these disease states easier for clients who do not have
access to healthy food options, or do not have the skills to cook healthy food for themselves.
This bill could serve to increase the fruit, vegetable, and whole grain consumption in
children who frequently dine on convenience foods, and increase the health of convenience
meals marketed specifically to children.

Provide the pros and the cons of the policy. (What do you like about it? What do you dislike
about it?)
This policy could pave the way to healthier food options in the fast food and
convenience food markets. Having healthier meals sold with an incentive item could
increase the consumption of healthier foods in the target population.
There are potential problems with this policy that could limit the scope of its
success. Food retail outlets that sell meals with incentive items could remove this marketing
technique in order to avoid changing the content of their meals. This would negate the
intended effect that this bill would have, and there would be no reduction in the
consumption of fat-, calorie-, and sodium-laden foods in children who consume

Michelle Garvie

NTR 522: Public Policy Paper

November 7, 2015

convenience meals. While I believe that this bill does attempt to make a very necessary
change in the nutritional content in the convenience food market, I remain skeptical of the
true scope and reach that this bill will have in changing the health and eating habits of those
who rely on fast and convenience food for a portion of their caloric intake.

Discuss your position and which you support.

I support the measures described in this bill. Marketing unhealthy food to children

using the incentive of non-food prizes is morally questionable, as children do not have the
same decision-making or analytical abilities as adults, and are more likely to desire a meal
sold with a toy or game piece than one sold without such incentive items (Ueda et al., 2015).
The measures in this bill would help to increase the consumption of nutrient-dense
convenience calories in children who consume fast food and other similar meals, and thus
help improve their diets. I believe that this bill is a good attempt to bring healthier eating
choices into the convenience food market.

Discuss the future of the policy: Where is it now? What is going on? What do you anticipate
to happen in the future? How will you change it to improve it?
The future of this bill is uncertain. There is not much information concerning the
interest groups that would be affected by the bill, however it can be seen that stringent
nutritional standards for the meals affected by this bill could hurt revenues for fast food and
other convenience food markets. This bill is currently in committee, with five Democratic
senators sponsoring it. Once it emerges from committee, it will need another 27 affirmative
votes to be passed to the governor to be signed into law. Given the party breakdown of the
New York State Senate currently, this bill will require bipartisan support. Revisions will
undoubtedly be made as the bill moves through the approval process. Senators who oppose
the bill will undoubtedly add terms and riders to the bill before they will give it their
support.
I do not expect it to be in its current form at its final vote given the process that this
bill will go through to get the support needed to pass. Senators will not support bills that are
not in their best interest for re-election, and this bill will have a direct effect on the business
models of convenience food retail outlets. I believe that in its current form this bill is an
excellent attempt to bring healthier eating choices into reach for those who rely on fast and
convenience meals, however I do not believe that this bill will pass.

Michelle Garvie

NTR 522: Public Policy Paper

November 7, 2015

Resources
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Children's Food Environment State Indicator Report, 2011.
Johnson L, Mander AP, Jones LR, Emmett 28. PM, Jebb SA. A prospective analysis of dietary energy
density at age 5 and 7 years and fatness at 9 years among UK children. Int J Obes
(Lond) 2008;32(4):586593.
Johnson L, Mander AP, Jones LR, Emmett 29. PM, Jebb SA. Energy-dense, low-fiber, high-fat dietary
pattern is associated with increased fatness in childhood. Am J Clin Nutr 2008;87:846854.
National Center for Health Statistics. Health, United States, 2011: With Special Features on Socioeconomic
Status and Health. Hyattsville, MD; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; 2012.
National Institutes of Health, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Disease and Conditions Index: What
Are Overweight and Obesity? Bethesda, MD: National Institutes of Health; 2010.
Ogden CL. Carroll MD. Kit BK. & Flegal KM. Prevalence of Childhood and Adult Obesity in the United
States, 2011-2012. JAMA. 2014;311(8): 806-814.
Ueda, S. Niwa, M. Hioki, H. Sohn, J. Kaneko, T. Sawa, A. & Sakurai, T. Sequence of Molecular Events
during the Maturation of the Developing Mouse Prefrontal Cortex. Mol neuropsych. 2015;1(2): 94104.
Vikraman S. Fryar CD. & Ogden CL. Caloric Intake From Fast Food Among Children and Adolescents in
the United States, 20112012. NCHS Data Brief, 2015; 213.