The Los Angeles City Council voted on Tuesday to ban for at least one year new fast-food restaurants in one of the town's poorest areas, this way taking measures against increasing obesity rates.

If approved by Mayor Antonia Villaraigosa, the ordinance would put a one-year moratorium on construction of new fast-food eateries in a 32-square-mile area of Los Angeles. The moratorium, proposed by Jan Perry, member of the council, has as target making the outlets put on menus healthier food. 30 percent of children living in that part of the city are obese, in contrast with 21 percent of all children in the LA, shows a report made public last year by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.

The measure would affect an estimated 500,000 residents of the largest city in the state of California. It seems that the area already has approximately 400 fast-food restaurants but only a few grocery stores or other outlets for healthy food, Reuters reported.

Fast-food eateries are defined by the law as "any establishment which dispenses food for consumption on or off the premises, and which has the following characteristics: a limited menu, items prepared in advance or prepared or heated quickly, no table orders and food served in disposable wrapping or containers."

As expected, fast-food companies disagreed with the measure, claiming that their industry was unjustly held responsible for causing the childhood obesity. "Obesity is principally related to what and how much a consumer eats, not where he eats," Andrew Puzder, Chief Executive of Carl's Jr parent CKE Restaurants Inc said in a letter addressed to Council President Eric Garcetti.