National Restaurant Association president and CEO Dawn Sweeney issued the following statement about the White House’s Childhood Obesity Task Force action plan:

“We support the First Lady’s efforts to reduce childhood obesity over the next generation. We are pleased to have worked with the Task Force on ways our industry and its leaders can help in this effort.

“We appreciate the Task Force's comprehensive, multi-segmented approach, which calls for widespread coordinated efforts by schools, educators, health care providers, parents, government, policy leaders, and the food and beverage industry.

“We believe that helping consumers—particularly parents—make smart choices for themselves and their families is critical and appreciate the action plan’s focus on nutrition information in restaurants.

“The National Restaurant Association strongly supported the nutrition information provision that recently became law, which will provide comprehensive nutrition data to consumers in chain restaurants in every part of the country in a consistent, uniform format. We believe that providing more nutrition information, as well as increased nutritionally balanced menu choices, is extremely important.

“The plan’s focus on encouraging increased consumption of fruits and vegetables is also in line with industry action and trends. The restaurant industry is built upon consumer choice, and industry research shows rising customer interest in produce, lean meats, and nutritionally balanced children’s meals. The National Restaurant Association has also joined with industry partners, including the Produce Marketing Association and International Foodservice Distributors Association, in announcing a goal of doubling produce use in foodservice within 10 years.

“We look forward to working with the Administration and the Task Force as we work to continue to foster positive trends, and look for ways to encourage more operators to continue to take voluntary action to provide healthy choices that consumers will enjoy.”