The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has extended until July 26, 2018, the deadline for posting the calorie counts of “certain gums, mints, and roll candy products” sold in glass-front vending machines, as well as for complying with type-size front-of-pack (FOP) labeling requirements. Published December 1, 2014, and effective December 1, 2016, the final rule requires businesses operating 20 or more vending machines to clearly disclose calorie counts “in a direct and accessible manner” if calories are not easily visible to prospective purchasers via FOP labeling. According to FDA, “several trade associations requested the extension for glass-front vending machines because of concerns regarding the requirements for the size of front-of-pack (FOP) calorie disclosures.” The trade associations apparently noted that “current voluntary FOP labeling programs require calorie information to be presented in a type size that ranges from 100 to 150 percent of the size of the net weight contents…
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The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has issued an interim final rule amending the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program regulations “to establish nutrition standards for all foods sold in schools, other than food sold under the lunch and breakfast programs.” Acting under Section 208 of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, the agency considered scientific recommendations and voluntary standards for beverages and snack foods, as well as more than 250,000 public comments, in developing the “Smart Snacks in School” standards, which must also adhere to the most recent Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Effective July 1, 2014, the final rule requires all competitive foods sold in schools to meet the following guidelines: (i) “be a grain product that contains 50 percent or more whole grains by weight or have as the first ingredient a whole grain”; or (ii) “have as the first ingredient one of the non-grain…
The Seattle City Council has unanimously adopted a bill requiring 50 percent of the food and beverage offerings in vending machines operated on city property to be those deemed “healthier” and “healthiest” as defined by Public Health Seattle & King County’s “King County Healthy Vending Guidelines.” According to the guidelines, “healthier” items include baked potato chips, frozen fruit juice bars, whole grain crackers, and pretzels, while the “healthiest” category includes fresh or dehydrated fruit and vegetables, whole grain cereals, low-fat popcorn, unsalted nuts or seeds, and fat-free or low-fat plain yogurt. See Q13Fox.com, March 4, 2013. Meanwhile, Oregon state legislators have proposed legislation (H.B. 3403) that would establish nutritional requirements for the food and beverage offerings in vending machines in public buildings. Among other things, the proposal would limit vended items to those not containing (i) more than 200 calories per package; (ii) more than 35 percent of total calories…
Massachusetts lawmakers have proposed a bill (H.B. 2011) to expand access to healthy food choices in vending machines on state property, including “government office buildings, road-side rest stops, state parks and recreation centers, state colleges and universities, and state supported hospitals.” The legislation seeks to set specific nutritional standards for all foods or beverages sold through vending machines located in government buildings or on property owned or managed by the commonwealth. To this end, the proposed bill would require that all beverage items must be one or a combination of the following: (i) water, including carbonated water, without added caloric sweeteners; (ii) coffee or tea without added caloric sweeteners, provided that condiments offered for these beverages have less fat than cream; (iii) fat-free or 1-percent low-fat dairy milk or calcium- and vitamin-D-fortified soymilk with less than 200 calories per container; (iv) 100 percent fruit juice or fruit juice combined with…
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.
The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) has submitted a petition to the Food and Drug Administration, asking the agency to set limits on the amount of sucrose and high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) allowed in beverages. CSPI also implores FDA to make the Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) status of HFCS and sucrose contingent on such limits, which would gradually be phased-in, while calling on the agency to (i) “revise the ‘Sugars’ line on Nutrition Facts labels to address ‘added sugars’”; (ii) “set targets for lower levels of added sugars in foods (apart from soft drinks and other beverages) that provide significant amounts of sugar to the general populations or population sub-groups”; (iii) “conduct a public education campaign to encourage consumers to consume less added sugars”; and (iv) “work with the food industry and interested federal, state, and local agencies to encourage reduced use and consumption of added…
Chicago’s City Council has reportedly approved an ordinance that will impose new nutrition rules on most food and drinks sold from 350 vending machines in 94 city buildings, setting restrictions on fat, calories, sugar, and sodium. The new ordinance applies to vending machines in city-owned and -leased buildings and takes effect January 2013. In a recent press release, Mayor Rahm Emanuel (D) said that the changes aim to encourage personal responsibility. “These new vending machines will make it easier than ever before for city employees and the public to make healthy lifestyle choices,” he said. “When city employees take their wellness into their own hands, we can reduce health care costs and also serve as a model for the residents of Chicago when it comes to making health choices.” Many health advocates have purportedly said that it makes sense to set standards for machines aimed at children and at city…
School districts in California, New Mexico and Illinois have reportedly publicized their intention to ban “Flamin’ Hot” Cheetos® snacks from campus vending machines and lunches over concerns about the product’s nutritional content. According to media reports, the schools in question have described the snack item as “hyperpalatable” with each bag containing 26 grams of fat and one-quarter of the recommended daily amount of sodium. As University of Michigan clinical psychologist Ashley Gearhardt further explained, “Our brain is really hardwired to find things like fat and salt really rewarding, and now we have foods that have them in such high levels that it can trigger an addictive process.” “It’s something that has been engineered so that it is fattier and saltier and more novel to the point where our body, brain and pleasure centers react to it more strongly than if we were eating, say, a handful of nuts,” Gearhardt said. “Going…
The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) has announced that more than 30 public and private hospitals have joined its voluntary Healthy Hospital Food Initiative, a new program seeking to make healthier food choices available in health care settings. Billed as part of the department’s ongoing effort to curb obesity, the new initiative requires participating hospitals to implement the NYC Food Standards established in 2008 by Mayor Michael Bloomberg in four areas: “cafeterias, beverage vending machines, food vending machines and patient meals.” According to DOHMH, these standards are based on U.S. Department of Agriculture and Institute of Medicine nutritional guidelines and “use progressive strategies to make healthy foods easily available.” Under the new initiative, hospital cafeterias must use a variety of techniques “to make the healthy choice the easy choice” by increasing the availability of fresh fruits, vegetables and whole grains; limiting the promotion of high calorie…
The Public Health Advocacy Institute (PHAI) has issued a June 7, 2012, fact sheet calling on school districts to consider the energy costs of cold beverage vending machines when deciding whether to renew vending contracts. Claiming that a traditional vending machine consumes approximately 3,000 kilowatt hours of electricity per year (kWh/yr), the fact sheet estimates that schools spend an average of $313 in annual energy costs per machine. “When multiplied over a total number of machines housed on school property, the electricity cost required to operate cold beverage vending machines amounts to a significant hidden expense for schools that should be subtracted from school beverage vending revenue,” argues PHAI, which has also provided a breakdown of vending machine energy costs by state. As an example, the fact sheet thus calculates that a large California school district with 225 traditional vending machines would accrue $477,000 in electricity fees over five years.…
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