i- Three months before new FDA regulations take effect that require restaurants and similar retail food establishments (in chains of 20 or more locations doing business under the same name and selling substantially similar menu items) to provide calorie and other nutrition information for standard menu items, Congress has again introduced legislation to modify the requirements. (For background information on the new menu labeling requirements that are scheduled to take effect on May 5, 2017, see previous blog entries, Final Menu Labeling Guidance Issued and Menu Labeling Update.)
- The Common Sense Nutrition Disclosure Act (R.772/S.261) was introduced in the House by Reps. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) and Tony Cárdenas (D-CA) on January 31, 2017, and by Sens. Roy Blunt (R-MO) and Angus King (I-ME) on February 1, 2017. A Common Sense Nutrition Disclosure Act was also introduced in both the House and the Senate in late 2015 and passed in the House on February 12, 2016 (see our blog entry, Menu Labeling in the House, for details). While the Act does not reduce the amount of nutritional information that must be provided by restaurants and retailers, it provides flexibility in determining how to disclose nutrition information.
- “The FDA’s one-size-fits-all approach places additional burdens on the backs of our nation’s small business owners without giving them the flexibility they need to actually comply with the regulations. How businesses provide that information should be consistent with how their customers actually place orders – including by phone, online or through mobile apps,” Rep. McMorris Rodgers explained in arelease about the Act.
- The bill would also reduce penalties and liability under certain circumstances, and allow the opportunity for establishments to correct mistakes after receiving a notice of the violation from FDA. Sponsors of the bill estimate that new menu labeling requirements will cost nearly $1 billion for just grocers, in addition to requiring 14.5 million hours of paperwork. Several industry groups have called for enactment of this legislation as soon as possible (for examples, see releases from FMI and NACS).
Menu Labeling Legislation Would Ease Some of FDA’s Upcoming Requirements
Friday, February 3, 2017
