Santa Clara County Could Ban Happy Meal Toys

The proposal would prohibit kids' meals that have lots of sugar, salt or certain fats from giving a free toy with the food.

April 28, 2010

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - A county supervisor has proposed eliminating toys from children??s restaurant meals if the food has high percentages of certain fats, salt or sugar, the Los Angeles Times reports.

County officials say Happy Meals and other kids?? meals make children overweight and think by forbidding toys with the high-calorie food would make kids less likely to want to eat the offerings. Touted as the first of its kind in the United States, the measure would outlaw toys in any restaurant meal with more than 485 calories, more than 600 milligrams of sodium or high amounts of fat or sugar. For example, McDonald??s could not give toys with its Happy Meals, even if the meals contain apple sticks and not French fries.

"People ask why I want to take toys out of the hands of children," said Ken Yeager, president of the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors and sponsor of the measure. "But we now know that 70 percent of the kids that are overweight or obese will be overweight or obese as adults. Why would we want to burden anybody with a lifetime of chronic illness?"

But the proposal has generated fierce opposition on the Internet, with opponents livid over the bill??s "nanny" nature. The California Restaurant Association even took out full-page ads in newspapers decrying the ordinance.

Yesterday, the Santa Clara Board of Supervisors debated the matter. If approved, the ban would only affect a dozen quick-service restaurants within the county.

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