What the FDA menu-labeling regs really mean

April 5, 2011 | By Paul Frumkin

So you don’t quite feel up to struggling through all 183 pages of the U.S.Food and Drug Administration’s proposed menu-labeling regulation?

Don’t worry. The editors of Nation’s Restaurant News have read through theepic document and attempted to address many of the key questions foodserviceoperators might have about the proposed rules.

The FDA issued the much-anticipated regulations April 1 after missing aninitial deadline of March 23 — one year after President Obama signed theprovision into law as part of the federal health care reform, or the PatientProtection and Affordable Care Act of 2010.

The agency attributed the delay to the complexity of the issue — a concernshared by many in the industry who worried that the government would attempt tofashion a one-size-fits-all solution. But now that the document is finallyhere, the industry can see for itself, and many associations and operators arethumbing through the document as we speak.

“The publication of the proposed regulations in the Federal Register … isthe next step forward in providing the industry with consistent, nationalrequirements on how to implement the new uniform nutrition informationstandard,” Dawn Sweeney, president and chief executive of the NationalRestaurant Association, said in a statement Friday.

“The National Restaurant Association anticipates there will be manyquestions and after full review of the proposal, will provide detailed commentsto the FDA to ensure that restaurants are provided adequate time and are ableto comply with the regulations effectively, as well as provide information toconsumers in the most usable way,” she added.

For those who still want to weigh the document as presented, the proposedregulations can be found at http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2011/2011-7940.htm.

The industry has less than 60 days to comment on the proposed rules.

NRN selected some of the biggest questions operators may have, withexplanations to follow: Click to read on