FDA Delays Menu Labeling Rule Until December 2016

One-year delay is positive news but legislation is still needed to resolve issues at heart of menu rule and make compliance flexible and reasonable for our channel.

July 10, 2015

WASHINGTON – Yesterday the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a one-year delay in the implementation of its menu-labeling rule announced in November. The rule, which requires retail establishments that are part of a chain of 20 or more stores and sell restaurant style food to label those offerings with their caloric content, was set to go into effect on December 1, 2015, but will now be held off until December 1, 2016.

The announcement is not entirely unexpected, as a recent congressional hearing on the issue saw near universal agreement among the members in attendance that the rule is problematic and at a minimum a one-year delay in implementation was warranted. 

While this is welcome news for the c-store industry, it does not solve our industry’s overarching concerns with this rule. There are still many unanswered questions about how the rule, written for the fast food industry, would be logically applied to our chain of retail and the FDA is months behind schedule in offering its official guidance on compliance.

NACS is continuing to work with congressional allies to achieve a longer-term resolution to the issues that plague the menu labeling rule, in order to move H.R. 2017, the Common Sense Nutrition Disclosure Act of 2015 through the Congress. The influential House Energy and Commerce Committee is tentatively scheduled to consider the bill in the coming weeks and we hope to see it on the floor of the House in the near future as well.

H.R. 2017, sponsored by Reps. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA-5) and Loretta Sanchez (D-CA-47) would amend the FDA rule, making compliance that is flexible and reasonable for our retail channel, and protecting your employees from potential criminal penalties for mistakes made in labeling of food products. We are told that a version of the legislation is very near introduction in the Senate as well.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement