A New York City law requiring McDonald's, KFC and other chain restaurants to post calorie information on menus and menu boards is not pre-empted by federal law on disclosure of nutritional information, an appeals court ruled Tuesday.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals also said Tuesday that requiring, for example, Chili's to tell customers that its smoked turkey sandwich contains 930 calories does not violate the First Amendment.

—Mark Hamblett reporting in "2nd Circuit Upholds NYC Law Requiring Restaurant Chains to Display Calorie Counts"

The plaintiff-appellant in this case was the New York State Restaurant Association.

Any organization whose members can pack 930 calories into a smoked turkey sandwich should know better than to base an appeal on the right to free speech. They should have relied upon the Fifth Amendment right to remain silent.

Tags: news and politics food obesity appellate judicial decisions commercial speech federal regulatory preemption humor