Fastfood outlets in Taipei have started providing information about the nutritional value of the food they serve, as part of the Taiwan capital city’s drive to slim down and get healthy. McDonald’s, Burger King, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Japan’s Mos Burger, and Yoshinoya, which serves up Japanese and Taiwanese fastfood, started providing details of the calories, protein, fat and sugar contained in their food as a result of rules introduced by Taipei city health director Chiu Shu-ti.
Some 181 outlets in Taipei, which include 91 from McDonald’s, 19 from Kentucky and 14 from Burger King, now display the nutritional value of their food on the walls of the premises or on receipts.
Officials are concerned about the increasing popularity of Westernised fastfood at the expense of traditional healthier Asian stir-fry dishes and plan to impose the requirement across the country.
The Taipei city government has urged residents, especially children – who are almost exclusively responsible for McDonald’s profits in the country – to follow a healthy diet amid concerns that rates of heart disease and diabetes are rising. To reinforce the message, the government has launched a 15-month campaign to encourage Taipei’s 2.5 million residents to lose a combined 100 tonnes of weight between March this year and June next year.
