BURGERS should carry tobacco-style health warnings, says a senior Labour MP.
David Hinchliffe, chairman of the Commons Health Select Committee and MP for Wakefield, said it should be made clear to people what they were eating.
Consumers should know how much exercise it would take to burn off the meal before tucking in, he added.
A label would warn consumers that they would need a nine-mile walk to burn off the calories in a McDonald's cheeseburger with fries and a shake.
Mr Hinchliffe said there were "parallels with tobacco".
He added: "At the moment, calorie content does not mean a great deal to people. Perhaps the message is not sufficiently blunt."
He spoke as fast-food bosses gave evidence to his committee on their products in a discussion on rising obesity rates among Britons.
Julian Hilton-Johnson, vice-president of McDonalds Restaurants, rejected the comparison with tobacco.
But he agreed that people should be clearly told what they were eating.
Nutritional information "certainly should be simplified", Mr Hilton-Johnson told MPs.
"It is important that whatever message is put out is well understood."
Mr Hinchliffe said his committee had not reached any conclusions about the way ahead.
However, he clearly believed more needed to be done to make people aware of exactly what they were eating.
Meanwhile, Andrew Cosslett, managing director of Cadbury Schweppes in Europe, defended the production of king-sized chocolate bars.
"They were introduced for a very distinct market, for very active people, and they are sold that way," he said.
"They have labels which show the calorific content and they are always sold alongside other products, so people can make the choice," he added.
