• Washington Post, USA Today , Wednesday, October 1, 2008 11:45 AM

California became the first state to require restaurants to put calorie counts on their menus and indoor menu boards Tuesday when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill requiring chains with 20 or more locations to post the information by 2011. Starting in July, restaurants and drive-throughs will have to offer menus that provide information on the calories, saturated fat, carbohydrates and sodium in each item.

In an analogy sure to resonate with the common tank commander, Schwarzenegger put the nation's obesity problem into perspective: "When I was in the Austrian army, I drove a tank that weighed 50 tons. Now multiply that by 3,500 -- that's as many pounds as California has gained" in the past decade, he said.

USA Today's Bruce Horovitz , meanwhile, reports that Yum Brands -- parent company to Taco Bell, KFC and Pizza Hut -- will announce today that it will post calorie information on the indoor menu boards nationwide at company-owned restaurants by Jan. 1, 2011, if not before.

Fast-food critic Michael Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, calls it a "groundbreaking announcement" and "fabulous news for health-conscious consumers."

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