A perspective article published in the May 9, 2013, issue of the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) urges local governments to consider supplementing the federal Affordable Care Act’s (ACA’s) menu-labeling provisions with their own laws designed to improve consumer responsiveness to the calorie listings and increase overall compliance among businesses. Sara Bleich and Lainie Rutkow, “Improving Obesity Prevention at the Local Level—Emerging Opportunities,” NEJM, May 2013. Noting that many local governments “have already begun engaging in innovative regulatory activity related to obesity prevention (e.g., pre-ACA local menu-labeling laws) and will continue to do so,” the authors propose several strategies for influencing consumer behavior through more robust menu-labeling requirements, such as “presenting consumers with calorie information in the form of a physical-activity equivalent (e.g., minutes of running required to burn off a particular food)” instead of a straight calorie count; “replacing the default fries and soda in a child’s meal with apple…
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U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) has introduced legislation (H.R. 1249) that would amend the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic (FD&C) Act “to improve and clarify certain disclosure requirements for restaurants, similar food retail establishments, and vending machines.” Titled the “Common Sense Nutrition Disclosure Act of 2013,” the bill would classify a restaurant or similar retail food establishment subject to federal menu labeling laws as one “that derives more than 50 percent of its total revenue from the sale of food of the type described” by the FD&C Act. Touted as a means to lessen the regulatory burden on some retailers, the legislation would, among other things, (i) strike from the FD&C Act language requiring restaurants, retail food establishments and vending machines to list “the number of calories contained in the standard menu item, as usually prepared and offered for sale” and instead insert language specifying that these establishments must…
The Mississippi House of Representatives recently passed legislation (H.B. 1182) that aims to prohibit food regulation at the local level. The bill in question would reserve to the state legislature the power to regulate consumer incentive items, implement menu and vending machine labeling rules, and set other restrictions on the sale of certain foods and beverages where not preempted by federal law. “If you want to go eat 20 Big Macs, you can eat 20 Big Macs,” said Rep. Greg Holloway (D-Hazlehurst), who reportedly argued that the bill would bar municipalities from making their own laws “willy-nilly.” The state Senate has also passed a similar measure (S.B. 2687), which must be reconciled with the House version before proceeding to the governor. See The Associated Press, February 14, 2013.
A study evaluating “five popular fast-food chains’ menus in relation to dietary guidance” has allegedly concluded that despite varied offerings, full menus “scored lower than 50 out of 100 possible points on the HEI-2005 [Healthy Eating Index- 2005].” Sharon Kilpatrick, et al., “Fast-food menu offerings vary in dietary quality, but are consistently poor,” Public Health Nutrition, January 2013. Researchers with Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, Arizona State University and the National Cancer Institute analyzed the total nutritional content of menus from Burger King, McDonald’s, Subway, Taco Bell, and Wendy’s using the HEI-2005 to calculate scores for all 12 index components for a total of 100 points. Nine of these components evidently “assess adequacy of amounts of food groups and oils in relation to MyPyramid recommendations, whereas the remaining three are referred to as moderation components because they measure constituents that should be limited in the diet…
The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) has released its 2013 “Xtreme Eating” report, which singled out restaurant foods that are allegedly laden with excessive calories, fat and sodium. Claiming that some restaurants seem to “scientifically engineer[] these extreme meals with the express purpose of promoting obesity, diabetes, and heart disease,” the report condemns menu items from The Cheesecake Factory, Maggiano’s Little Italy and other retailers that in some cases purportedly contain as much as “four-and-a-half days’ worth” of recommended fat and more than a day’s worth of recommended calories. “I hope the Obama Administration promptly finalizes overdue calorie labeling rules for chain restaurants,” said CSPI Executive Director Michael Jacobson. “Not only do Americans deserve to know what they’re eating, but, as our Xtreme Eating ‘winners’ clearly indicate, lives are at stake. And perhaps when calories become mandatory on menus, chains will begin innovating in a healthier direction,…
Representative John Carter (R-Texas) has introduced a bill (H.R. 6174) that would change the nutrition disclosure requirements for chain restaurants and other food outlets enacted in the Affordable Care Act that was recently upheld as constitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court. Under the proposal, (i) delivery and take-out restaurants would be able to post calorie information on their websites; (ii) pizza shops would be allowed to provide calorie-per-slice labeling rather than whole-pizza totals and could publish average totals instead of calorie data for every possible combination of ingredients; (iii) stores would be protected from lawsuits where the nutrient disclosures are “within acceptable allowances” including “allowances for variation in serving size, inadvertent human error in formulation of menu items, and variations in ingredients”; and (iv) the term “restaurant” would be redefined to mean “a retail food establishment that derives more than 50 percent of its total revenue from the sale of…
A group of national pizza chains has reportedly formed a new coalition to combat proposed menu labeling regulations that would require companies with 20 or more food outlets to post calorie information on menus and menu boards. Mandated by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, the Food and Drug Administration’s April 2011 draft rules call on restaurants to display calories ranges for all customizable menu options as well as the overall calorie count for each item. The American Pizza Community (TAPC), however, has opposed the measure as unfair to those enterprises with highly variable offerings that are unlikely to be consumed by one person. “A light bulb goes on when people hear about all the combinations for pizza,” said TAPC Chair Lynn Liddle. “They start to realize how difficult it would be to make a one-size-fits-all approach.” TAPC members have also argued that not only are 90…
Health and consumer organizations have urged the Obama administration to provide calorie labeling in “all retail food establishments that sell restaurant-type food, including supermarkets, convenience stores, movie theaters, casinos, bowling alleys, stadium, cafes in superstores, and hotels.” In a May 16, 2012, letter, representatives of more than 20 organizations in the National Alliance for Nutrition & Activity (NANA) took issue with the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) definition of “retail food establishments” as outlined in an April 2011 proposal for nutritional menu labeling for chain restaurants and vending machines mandated under the Affordable Care Act. The proposed rule was covered in Issue 389 of this Update. NANA argued that the definition would not only exclude other venues but “significantly limit the ability of consumers to make informed choices by reducing the number of venues providing calorie labeling.” In addition, the group advocates the inclusion of alcohol labeling in FDA’s final…
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently opened a docket pertaining to a petition filed by Philadelphia seeking to exempt from preemption a menu labeling ordinance that requires chain restaurants and retail food facilities in the city to provide calorie, fat and sodium information for the food and beverage products they sell. According to the petition, the ordinance meets three requirements under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act allowing FDA to grant an exemption from preemption: the ordinance “was designed to address a particular local need for information which need is not met by the requirements” of federal labeling law, the exemption from preemption “would not unduly burden interstate commerce,” and the exemption “would not cause any food to be in violation of any applicable requirement under federal law.” Philadelphia contends that while Congress required uniformity in chain restaurant menu labeling as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable…
The British Medical Journal has published a study that sought to “assess the impact of fast food restaurants adding calorie labeling to menu items on the energy content of individual purchases.” According to the researchers, including an independent consultant and a city official, the more than 8,400 adults interviewed in 2009 did not overall purchase foods lower in calories after New York City implemented regulations requiring calorie posting, but among the one in six lunchtime customers who used the calorie information provided, lower calorie choices were made. Significant variations were apparently found in the data collected from different chains, a matter attributed to customer purchasing patterns and changes in menu options and promotions. More than 7,300 lunchtime customers at 275 fast-food locations, representing 13 chains, were interviewed in 2007 and provided their register receipts so researchers could verify their self-reported purchases. The same method was used to compare and assess…
