calorie counts

The Food and Drug Administration will aim to begin enforcement around May 7, 2018, of the long-delayed requirement that chain restaurants, grocery stores, and convenience stores put calorie counts on their menus, according to an agreement reached in federal court. The target date is in line with a statement by FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb a month ago that the agency will be providing guidance to retailers so they will be ready to comply in May 2018.

FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb says the agency "will provide additional, practical guidance" to food retailers by the end of the year so they will be ready to comply with menu-labeling rules when they take effect, which is now scheduled for May 2018. The FDA announced it was going forward with the May 2018 target at the same time New York City agreed in court not to enforce its own labeling law until next May.

Diners can get a day's worth of calories, roughly 2,000 for an adult, from the Pasta Napoletana entree at The Cheesecake Factory or the Cheeseburger Omelette sold by IHOP, says the Center for Science in the Public Interest in its annual Xtreme Eating Awards. The consumer watchdog group declared the 2,310-calorie Pasta Napoletana to be "worst adapted pasta" and the 1,990-calorie Cheeseburger Omelette as the "least original breakfast."

Olympic athletes have to customize their diets to fit their sport, reports NPR. Swimmers like Michael Phelps can pound back 12,000 calories a day and go especially heavy on the pasta and bread before a race. But gymnasts and wrestlers stay away from heavy meals on the day of a competition, in order to stay nimble.

The House Appropriations subcommittee that oversees USDA and FDA is writing its own guarantee of a gradual transition to calorie counts on menus a restaurants, carry-outs, stores and fast-food stands. It included a rider, Section 735, in its USDA-FDA funding bill saying enforcement cannot occur until a year after Dec. 1, 2016, or a year after the FDA issues the final rule on menu labels.

Ahead of regulations that would require restaurants and fast-food to provide information such as calorie counts for their offerings, USDA researchers examined the impact of information now being given voluntarily by vendors. An Economic Research Service bulletin, "Consumers' use of nutrition information when eating out," says people who eat out frequently are less likely to use nutrition information at restaurants than those who dine out more often.

A survey of menus at the 66 largest U.S. restaurant chains found a new items on the menu contain 12 percent fewer calories, says a study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

The major U.S. soda companies set a goal to reduce by 20 percent the calories that each American consumes in beverages by 2025. Coca-Cola, Dr Pepper and Pepsi joined the American Heart Association and the Clinton Foundation in the initiative, said the American Beverage Association. It will promote smaller serving sizes and consumption of water or other no- or low-calorie drinks. The ABA said the project "is the single-largest voluntary effort by an industry to fight obesity."

Sixteen major food and beverage companies sold 6.4 trillion fewer calories in 2012 than they did in 2007, says the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which paid for an independent evaluation of sales. The companies had pledged to cut 1 trillion calories by 2012 and 1.5 trillion calories by 2015. In total, the companies sold products containing 60.4 trillion calories in 2007.