So McDonalds is putting nutritional info on their food:

Patrons of the world’s largest restaurant company will be able to learn the amount of calories and fat, among other information, in a McDonald’s product by looking at the wrapper instead of having to go to its Web site or ask for it at the counter.

As Diet Blog mentions (hat tip to them), this means you have to buy the food first, and then find out how much damage you’ve done. Diet Blog also notes that John Banzhaf (the lawyer in the obesity lawsuit against McDonalds) isn’t happy with the fact that some of the information presented is based on an adult man’s dietary needs. I wonder how this will work on Happy Meals?

Anyways, seems like a step in the right direction, though I wonder if McDonalds isn’t motivated by the desire to appear less negligent in case the “cheeseburger bill” isn’t made law.

Update, 10/27: Here’s a related news item from across the pond.

The result is that today’s average British child is familiar with up to 400 brand names by the time they reach the age of 10. Researchers report that our children are more likely to recognise Ronald McDonald and the Nike swoosh than Jesus. One study found that 69% of all three-year-olds could identify the McDonald’s golden arches - while half of all four-year-olds did not know their own name.

Just more interesting context for McDonalds’ decision to put nutritional info on their food.