A Balluta restaurant will be including the nutritional information of the food it serves in a new pilot study. 

The project is a collaboration between the Ministry of Social Wellbeing, the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association (MHRA) and consulting firm Squared, which is producing the nutritional information to be included on the menu. 

 OKA’s At The Villa will be including nutritional information on a number of items on its menu, Sport and Exercise Psychologist Bernice Sant said on Friday.

The initiative will last for three months and will see 15 items on the restaurant’s menu detail nutritional information such as fats and proteins alongside an easy-to-read colour-coded system to help customers make educated decisions, she said.

The aim of the study is to promote healthier living and a better quality of life while also creating a more transparent and reputable relationship between the customer and the restaurant, Sant added.

Sant said that this initiative, as seen in similar ones abroad, helps create awareness about food consumption and has seen people reduce their portion sizes and purchase healthier options.

The initiative will also help those with dietary limitations, such as diabetes, high blood pressure and sensitivity to allergens, as it will allow them to “do the things they used to” as they can celebrate with friends and family without worry, Social Wellbeing Minister Julia Farrugia Portelli said.

For that reason, many restaurants are losing customers as they choose to eat at home where they can control the ingredients and nutrients they are eating, she added.

She also pointed at Malta’s high obesity ranking as one of the world’s leading heavyweight champions, “a figure that we shouldn’t be proud of.”

In the Worl Health Organisation’s European Regional Obesity Report for 2022, Malta ranked second for overweight and obesity in adults, second for children and adolescents aged 10-19 and third for children aged 5-9.

The nutritional information can be found under 15 select dishes at the Balluta restaurant. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

Can you pass the salt?

Alongside the nutritional information under the select dishes, OKA’s menu shows a colour-coded table with basic dietary information – red indicates unhealthy levels of the seasoning, green is a healthy amount and yellow an in between.

Once a customer has ordered their food staff will hand out a short questionnaire to everyone at the table asking about the decisions that went into their choice of dish.

Every month, this information will be collected and examined, Sant said.

While the initiative is currently contained to a single establishment with select items, MHRA CEO Andrew Agius Muscat said that the study is not exclusive.

“A majority of restaurants can join,” he said as there are already discussions on future steps to promote healthy living alongside Malta’s characteristic Mediterranean cuisine.

A notable exclusion from the pilot study is OKA’s kid’s section, the menu’s chicken nuggets and other child-orientated dishes lacking the information.

“I want the information on all the dishes,” Sant said but, since it is a pilot study, only 15 dishes from the menu were chosen.