Dawn Sweeney, president and CEO of the National Restaurant Association, issued the following statement regarding the White House announcement that the manufacturing members of the Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation have pledged to reduce 1.5 trillion calories by 2015:

“We congratulate the Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation for their leadership in reducing calories from the food supply. Such efforts will have tremendous impact on the caloric consumption of the entire population. This will assist the restaurant industry’s efforts to support the goals of the First Lady’s Let’s Move initiative to reduce childhood obesity. The new and reformulated products will become part of the food supply chain, which is key to helping restaurants continue to increase healthy and nutritious offerings for our customers.

“It is innovative actions like the one announced today that will provide consumers with more choice, and allow individuals to make better selections for themselves and their families.

“We recognize and support the importance of providing healthful options and nutrition information to consumers. We look forward to continuing our industry’s dialogue with the Let’s Move campaign on the steps the restaurant industry can take to aid in this effort.”