A McDonald’s drive-through menu in New York printed with calorie counts for each food item is shown July 18, 2009. Health care bills passed by the Senate and the House of Representatives would require large chain restaurants to post on the menu or menu board the calories contained in most items.

Washington ? Calorie counts for every pizza, blueberry muffin, chef’s salad or anything else that comes from many chain restaurants and vending machines would be instantly available to consumers, thanks to a few paragraphs in Congress’ health care legislation.

Under the health care bills passed by the Senate and the House of Representatives, restaurants that are part of a chain with 20 or more locations doing business under the same name would have to post on the menu or menu board the calories contained in most items.

Such information would also be available for food “sold at a salad bar, buffet line, cafeteria line, or similar self-service facility, and for self-service beverages or food that is on display and that is visible.”

The requirement doesn’t apply to condiments, “daily specials,” custom orders or items that appear on menus for fewer than 60 days a year.

The restaurant also would have to make available right away, upon request, other information such as calories from fat in a product, as well as amounts of fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium, total carbohydrates, complex carbohydrates, sugars, dietary fiber and protein.

Vending machines owned by large operators also would have to have calorie labels so that consumers could see them before they bought an item. That presumably would mean that on machines where the product is not visible, label cards would be posted on the machine.

The measure has widespread support.

“It shows the government wants to take action on obesity-related issues. It’s symbolically important,” said Kelly Brownell, director of Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity.

Politically, the provision is a rare example of lawmakers from both parties agreeing on a nuance of the mammoth health care bill. Democratic leaders are trying to meld versions passed by the Senate and House last year into a final version that can be enacted into law.

There’s little disagreement on the calorie counting, which is expected to take effect about a year after the legislation is enacted. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, is one of the effort’s main sponsors, while Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, the chairman of the Senate Health Committee, hailed the bill as providing “concrete steps to fashion a society in which the healthy choice is the easy choice.”