FDA to Issue Guidance on Menu Labeling Requirements
The US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has pledged to provide further guidance on menu labeling requirements by the end of this year to address concerns from the eating-out sector.
According to a statement of the FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, M.D., on the FDA’s role in ensuring Americans have access to clear and consistent calorie and nutrition information; forthcoming guidance will provide greater clarity and certainty. He underlines the FDA was entrusted by the US Congress with the responsibility of crafting predictable, uniform federal standards that will benefit the health of families across America by ensuring access to essential calorie and nutrition information on food and menu labels.
The commissioner explains that Americans should not have to navigate variable information about the foods they eat when traveling from state to state—or city to city. Inconsistent state and local requirements may also drive up the cost of food, and sow confusion, by requiring restaurants and other covered establishments to post different information based on location.
“We take seriously our obligation to consumers; to make sure they have access to useful menu labeling information in a simple and timely manner. We also share Congress’s goal in enacting these labeling provisions: to ensure that calorie and nutrition information is delivered in a clear, consistent and predictable way. Similarly, we recognize our obligation to provide clear guidance so that restaurants and other establishments that are subject to these provisions have clarity and certainty as to how they can efficiently meet the new menu labeling requirements,” according to the statement.
Gottlieb says that FDA has issued detailed regulations addressing what information should be provided in menus at restaurant chains and other similar retail establishments, as well as when and how that information should be provided. In developing the regulations, we were informed by thousands of comments from consumers, industry representatives and other interested parties, along with many meetings and discussions with stakeholders. Earlier this year, FDA solicited another round of feedback on our regulation, which has helped to further inform our approach to implementing the menu labeling provisions.
“I am pleased to announce that we will provide additional, practical guidance on the menu labeling requirements by the end of this year. This additional guidance will address concerns that were raised about challenges establishments faced in understanding how to meet their obligations under the new regulations. We have been diligently working to address the comments we received, and to establish a sustainable framework for enabling establishments to effectively meet the new menu labeling provisions. These new policy steps should allow covered establishments to implement the requirements by next year’s compliance date,” he adds.
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