NYC Council's “Healthy Happy Meals” Bill: Potential Impact on Fast Food Purchases

Background: The New York City (NYC) Council proposed the “Healthy Happy Meals” Bill to improve the nutritional quality of children’s meals at fast food restaurants by requiring meals that include a toy meet certain nutritional criteria. The current study explored the impact of the bill on calories purchased.

Methods:  Data were from a prior study from multiple NYC and New Jersey locations of fast food restaurants, and included receipts from adults and purchases for 422 children made by 282 adults. Using the “Healthy Happy Meals” Bill requirements, researchers determined the percentages of purchases that included a toy and those that would not include a toy.

Results: Children were a mean age of 7.0 years and 87% of caregivers were Black or Hispanic. A mean of 600 calories were purchased, 36% of which were from fat. Additionally, 869 mg. of sodium were purchased for each child. Approximately 35% of children ate a children’s meal. Ninety-eight percent of these children’s meals did not meet the proposed nutrition criteria for at least one nutrient. Fifty-one percent exceeded the limit for calories, 55% for sodium, 78% for calories from fat, 14% for saturated fat and 49% for added sugars. Using the new criteria, there would be an average decrease of 54 calorie intake and an 18 calorie decrease across all children.

Discussion: We estimate that the policy could result in a reduction of calories purchased for children, improving the healthfulness of children’s diets.