WASHINGTON – Yesterday, the Common Sense Nutrition Disclosure Act of 2017, H.R. 772, passed the House with a bipartisan vote of 266 to 157. Lyle Beckwith, senior vice president of government relations at NACS, issued the following statement in response to passage:

“In passing the Common Sense Nutrition Disclosure Act (CSNDA) today, the U.S. House of Representatives has reached a critical milestone toward the shared goals of providing consumers the information they need to make wise nutritional choices – without burdening them with higher prices and reduced choices, or exposing small businesses and their employees with to insurmountable barriers to compliance, crippling costs and potential criminal penalties for innocent mistakes.”

“The CSNDA represents a practical approach to implementing a national, uniform nutrition-disclosure standard for food service establishments. A study commissioned by NACS shows that, without this legislation, not only would the cost of compliance with proposed FDA rules far outrun the $1 billion over 10 estimated by the agency, the regulations would be nearly impossible for small businesses to comply with due to their lack of clarity and inflexibility.”

“In contrast to the FDA regulations, which applied a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach that did not take into account the differences in approach to food service between big-chain restaurants and convenience stores, grocery stores and delivery operations, the CSNDA will set a national standard for disclosure while providing these businesses the flexibility to provide nutritional information in ways that fit their diverse business and service models.”

“With the May 7 compliance deadline looming for regulations promulgated by the FDA, we now urge the U.S. Senate to expeditiously take and enact this legislation.”