The FDA said it would give restaurants an additional year, until Dec. 1, 2016, to comply with a requirement that they list calorie counts on menus and menu boards. The regulation originally was due to take effect on this Dec. 1, a year after it was published. In a Federal Register notice, the FDA said it extended the deadline because of requests from the food industry and to allow further clarification of the rules. “Most requests sought to extend the compliance date by one year,” the agency said. Trade groups said there were challenges to presenting nutritional information “in ways that better correspond to how foods are offered for sale.”
The labeling rule applies to chains with at least 20 outlets and covers meals served at restaurants and carry-out foods including popcorn at movie theaters and muffins at a bakery.
The FDA acted at the same time lawmakers were trying to write a later compliance date into law. The House Appropriations Committee approved a bill on Wednesday to delay the rule for at least one year.
“Critics said the delay was not a fatal blow, but was worrisome, as it would give the restaurant and grocery industries more time to lobby against the measure,” said the New York Times, which noted that there had been complaints that the agency was tardy in giving explicit instructions on how to meet the new requirement. “Some of its strongest backers, including Senator Patty Murray, Democrat of Washington, had called on the agency to delay it.”
Deputy FDA commissioner Michael Taylor said the agency planned to issue in August a “guidance document that provides answers to some of the more frequently asked and crosscutting questions that the agency has received to further assist covered establishments in complying with the rule.” The guidance will be amended if need be, he said.