NYC Hospitals Cracking Down on Junk Food

New York City's hospitals are ditching their deep fryers and swapping cookies for fruit as they join Mayor Michael Bloomberg's quest for a health-conscious city.

In the past few years, the city's 15 public hospitals cut calories in patients' meals and restricted the sale of sugary drinks and unhealthy snacks at vending machines. Now the city is tackling hospital cafeteria food. And it is enlisting private hospitals, too.

The guidelines are voluntary. But critics say the campaign is another sign that Bloomberg is running a "nanny state."

Earlier this month, he pushed through a ban on the sale of supersized sodas and other sugary drinks at fast-food restaurants and theaters.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)