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Starting in about two years, restaurants operating under a brand with more than 20 stores in the U.S. will have to list calorie content on menus and menu boards. They will also be required to have other nutritional information available on premise, but not on the menus.
These menu labeling provisions were included in the health care reform package which has been signed into law.
Initiated by the National Restaurant Association at the request of the restaurants who will be most affected by it, large national chains, these national requirements will eliminate the hodgepodge of state and local menu labeling laws that are proliferating across the U.S.
Very importantly, the law provides lawsuit/liability protection for restaurants that provide nutritional information in good faith, so they cannot be successfully sued by someone who has a menu item analyzed and finds minor variances between posted values and actual values.
Independent restaurants or multi-unit operations with under 20 same-brand locations must register with the FDA twice a year (or semi-annually) to qualify for the lawsuit protection.
Any menu item information provided by restaurants (mandatory or voluntarily) must use an accepted source of information for nutrient content disclosures, including nutrient databases, cookbooks, laboratory analyses and other reasonable means as determined by the FDA.
The industry-backed law also prevents local and state governments from enacting or enforcing their own differing nutrition disclosure laws. No state or local government will be able to require other information besides calorie counts to be posted on menus or menu boards.
WRA fought for the provision exempting independent restaurants and chains with less than 20 units. At the same time, WRA has been fighting against menu labeling proposals in the state Capitol for many years. A hearing on a state menu labeling mandate (Assembly Bill 664) was scheduled for March 30, but was canceled after the federal law was passed.
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