What does the calorie count mean for burgers?

Burgers, chips, etc. are seen to be the complete opposite of a healthy diet. Not only does an average meal in one of the leading fast food chains constitute a high intake of several hundred calories, but it also contains a large proportion of sugar and fats. If eaten on a regular basis, fast food undoubtedly contributes to an unhealthy lifestyle and weight gain. 
Consequently, the city of New York introduced compulsory labelling of fast food items back in 2008. Continuing along these lines, fast-food restaurants in the USA have been obliged to indicate the energy and nutritional values of their food items since May 2018. 

Scientists at the Harvard School of Public Health carried out an investigation into the impact of this compulsory labelling on consumer behaviour. They evaluated the weekly sales of 104 branches of a fast food chain before and after the nutritional table had been added to the packaging.

They discovered that labelling led to an average reduction in the number of calories consumed by 60 kcal, i.e. 4% on every purchase, taking into account normal purchase fluctuations. However, this positive trend was only recorded at the beginning of the study. During the course of the year, the number of calories consumed with every purchase for the week increased, meaning that the average drop in the number of calories was only 23 kcal at the end of the study.

The researchers suggested that further investigations would be necessary to identify the long-term effect of labelling the products with energy and nutritional values. In spite of the allegedly minor effect that food labelling has on the individual consumer, it can play a role in reducing the illnesses in society as a whole that result from unhealthy eating. The investigation confirmed the results obtained from previous studies involving packaged foods.

They showed that only one in ten customers took any notice of the nutritional tables before actually buying the item in question.
Critics see the main cause for this in the fact that the nutritional tables appear in small print and are too difficult for many customers to interpret correctly. Consequently, work is currently underway in many countries to introduce a clearer traffic light system of labelling.

Even though the effects of the current labelling are only minor, they are nevertheless a step in the right direction, which will pave the way for more ambitious projects in the future concerning information for the consumer.