Parenting, Restaurant | featured news

The menus offered to children by most U.S. restaurant chains have too many calories, too much salt or fat, and often not a hint of vegetables or fruit, according to a study by the Center for Science in the Public Interest. The group, which has agitated for everything from healthier popcorn at the movies to calorie labeling in supermarkets, found that among almost 3,500 combinations surveyed, kids' meals failed to meet nutritional standards 97 percent of the time.

Beginning today, kids will find some cool new choices on their restaurant menus choices that will make their parents happy, too.

The owner of the Olde Salty restaurant in Carolina Beach, N.C., has posted signs that say: “Screaming children will NOT be tolerated!” She says business has improved, but some parents — including the mother of an autistic child — think the policy is unfair.

The Daily Beast examined the data for kids meals from dozens of national chain restaurants across the four categories available for each eatery: calories, saturated fat, sodium, and carbohydrates. Each meal was ranked within each nutritional category, then the ranking each meal received for each nutritional category was totaled to determine the final ranking.