Trade groups for grocers and convenience store operators made a last-minute request to the FDA to delay the menu-labeling requirement due to take effect on May 5 and review it under President Trump’s order for agencies to repeal, replace, or modify unduly burdensome regulations. “Their wish might just be granted,” said Food Dive, pointing to both previous extensions of the deadline to post calorie counts and the Trump Administration’s anti-regulatory stance.
So-called menu labeling was passed as part of the Affordable Care Act. It calls for chains with at least 20 outlets to list the caloric content of the prepared foods they sell. Food Dive said the grocery and convenience store groups claim that although they, too, frequently sell prepared foods, the requirement is really aimed at restaurants. “NGA and the Food Marketing Institute have said that grocers offer a wider array of prepared foods than restaurants do, and thus will incur a greater cost burden in posting calorie counts,” said Food Dive.
The consumer group Center for Science in the Public Interest said grocers and convenience store operators “have been trying for over a decade to weasel their way out of providing calorie information to their customers.” Americans consume one-third of their calories outside the home, says CSPI, so providing nutrition information “can help people make lower-calorie choices.”
To read a Washington Post and FERN story about the pizza industry’s efforts to reduce the impact of menu labeling on its operations, click here.
To read the letter to the FDA by the National Grocers Association and the National Association of Convenience Stores, click here.