Nearly 1/3 of American children eat fast food everyday, consuming an average of 187 more calories per day than those who don’t, and accounting for an extra six pounds of weight gain per year. The marketing of unhealthy foods and beverages to children greatly influences their food choices and consumption habits. Both the Institute of Medicine (IOM) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) report that the food and beverage industry spends more that $1 billion per year marketing to children and teenagers. In 2006, fast food restaurants sold more than 1.2 billion children’s meals with toys to children ages 12 and younger. Additionally, a number of recent studies have found that the food and beverages marketed specifically to African American and Latino audiences are often not as healthy as those marketed to general audiences.  

Community public health advocates and policymakers can use multiple strategies to reduce the impact of marketing on children’s food choices and promote healthy eating. They can work with local governments to prohibit fast food restaurants from locating near schools and other child-serving places. They can also enact ordinances to prohibit toy give-away promotions with unhealthy meals.

NPLAN has many resources for advocates and policy makers to use as they work towards better food environments. These resources include model ordinances to create Healthy Toy Give Away Meals and Healthy School Food Zones.

Technical Assistance Available!
Are you interested in passing a fast food-related policy using one of NPLAN's models? Curious about a concept discussed during the webinar? Contact NPLAN for technical assistance.

Fast Food Regulation Webinar

In June 2010, NPLAN hosted a webinar about the zoning and police power of local governments to enact food sales and marketing regulations and what can be done to steer restaurants toward providing healthier options.  The webinar was also a mini-training on two of NPLAN’s model policy tools: Healthy Food Zone Ordinance and Healthy Toy Give Away Meals Ordinance.  

Participants heard from Ken Yeager, the President of the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, who sponsored the landmark ordinance that prohibits toy give-away promotions with unhealthy kids' meals. He discussed the public health rationale for the legislation and the public response thus far.

Webinar Agenda & Resources
Each presentation is available for download at the bottom of the page.

Why Regulate Fast Food?
Christine Fry, NPLAN Policy & Program Associate

Regulating Fast Food through Zoning
Amy Ackerman, NPLAN Consulting Attorney

Better Meals for Kids Ordinance
Samantha Graff, NPLAN Staff Attorney

Field Example: Santa Clara County's Public Health Ordinance on Childhood Obesity<
Ken Yeager, President, Santa Clara Board of Supervisors

Webinar Recording
Download the webinar recording as an MP3. Due to technical difficulties with our webinar provider, we were unable to record the visual portion of the webinar.