Lawmakers in Mississippi — the most obese state in the nation — have overwhelmingly approved what they’re calling the “anti-Bloomberg bill.”
It would ban communities from requiring restaurants to post calorie counts on menus or limit portion sizes, as Mayor Bloomberg tried to do with his proposed ban on large sodas. Also forbidden: any local rule banning toys from being distributed with kids’ meals.
The governor is expected to sign it.
Its author, state Sen. Tony Smith, owner of the Stonewall’s BBQ chain, which serves dishes like the Lil’ Piggy, said government has no business telling people what they cannot eat.
“If we give government a little more control of our personal rights – where does it stop?” he said.
If customers “want to supersize, they’re going to figure out how to do it, whether that means buying two or whatever,” said Smith, whose restaurants only service sodas 20-ounces at a time, a serving size that Bloomberg‘s ban would outlaw.