Posted May 20, 2015
The Food
and Drug Administration (FDA) is facing major blowback over a controversial
ObamaCare rule that requires restaurants to list the number of calories in the
foods they sell, according to The Hill article available here.
Agri-Pulse also published an article available here.
The menu
labeling requirements, set to take effect in December, are under attack from
both sides of the aisle, setting up a showdown between Congress and the Obama
administration.
A group of
32 senators is demanding acting FDA Commissioner Stephen Ostroff delay the
rules until after the 2016 presidential election, which could give the next
president a chance to block the rule altogether.
FDA issued
the labeling rule last November, but the agency has yet to issue guidance for
complying with the requirements, the senators noted, according to Agri-Pulse.
“While we
recognize the benefit of improved access to nutritional information for
consumers, we are concerned that the lack of clear and consistent guidance from
the agency will make it difficult, confusing, and burdensome for businesses,
particularly smaller businesses, to implement the new requirements,” the
senators wrote in a letter.
The labeling
rule, which was a requirement of the 5-year-old Affordable Care Act, applies to
companies with 20 or more locations, including supermarket delis.
Health
advocates say consumers will benefit from the menu labeling requirements
because they would have access to more information about the foods they eat,
according to The
Hill.
Margo
Wootan, director of nutrition policy at the Center for Science in the Public
Interest, said that a “delay is reasonable” but that “we’re anxious to get the
calorie labeling to the public as soon as possible.”
For more information on food labeling, please visit the
National Agricultural Law Center’s website here.
