Want to know how many calories are in the mystery meat your dorm serves? Or just how many are in those cookies you just canâÄôt pass without grabbing one?
Despite months of work between the Student Health Advisory Committee and University Dining Services, the possibility that the number of calories in individual food items will be posted in UDS dining facilities seems a distant one.
This is unfortunate, as this information is already available by clicking the âÄúNetNutritionâÄù feature on the UDS website.
NetNutrition breaks down the UDS menu by dining hall and day of the week. After picking the location and date, the menu for that day comes up. From that screen, it is possible to click and see the foodâÄôs nutritional information.
Despite the usefulness of this feature, it does not help students who canâÄôt or donâÄôt want to plan out their meals in advance.
As the University of MinnesotaâÄôs obesity rate creeps up, it is the responsibly of UDS to do all it can to help students make healthy choices.
It would be simple, easy and cheap to print labels and post this information in each UDS faculty.
Most restaurants rightly are not required to post such information, but âÄî given that students are required to purchase a meal plan while living in the dorms âÄî UDS should hold itself to a higher standard.
Despite the fact that many consumers might not take advantage of a calorie labeling system, the benefits it would provide to health-conscious students far outweigh the minuscule cost required to readily provide that information in every UDS facility.