FDA unveils menu-labeling enforcement start, final requirements

After several false starts, the Food and Drug Administration set a date of May 2017 for the enforcement of menu-labeling rules applying to chain restaurants and other foodservice operations. In addition, the agency announced an updated and detailed guide to the regulations.

School, in-patient hospital feeding and prison foodservice operations are not regulated under this law. However, large restaurant chains operating in nontraditional venues such as college campuses, and foodservice facilities with 20 or more locations doing business under the same name and selling mostly the same offerings, do fall under the menu-labeling jurisdiction.  

Although the requirements themselves—which direct foodservice operators to list calorie information and substantiate other nutrtional claims adjacent to items on menus and menu boards—are largely unchanged from previous iterations of the guide, a Q&A format gives operators more explicit directions. 

For example, the rules clarify labeling needs for catering and buffet-style operations. Catering menus are not exempt from the regulations, but nutrition information does not need to be present at catered events. Qualifying self-serve concepts are expected to display calories by item or serving. This version of the guidelines also outlines kiosk ordering and digital signage at covered operations, elements increasingly adopted by the noncommercial industry.

In addition to calorie information, the listings must include a statement to help guests understand the significance of the nutrition information. “The following succinct statement must be provided on menus and menu boards: ‘2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice, but calorie needs vary,’” the FDA said. 

When the FDA issues a Notice of Availability in the Federal Register in the next few days, it will begin enforcing the final rules a year from that date. Check out the final regulations here.