Restaurants with more than 20 locations, such as chains like McDonald's, will have to list the calorie information on their menus—but not until late 2016 Tupungato/Shutterstock.com
The FDA Is Delaying the Affordable Care Act's Menu-Labeling Rules
The deadline for posting calorie counts was pushed back a year to December 2016.
Chain restaurants will have an extra year to comply with the menu-labeling rules created by the Affordable Care Act, the Obama administration announced Thursday.
The Food and Drug Administration said that compliance with the rule, which mandates that restaurants with 20 or more locations post calorie information on in-store menu boards or face civil and criminal penalties, will be required on December 1, 2016—pushed back from December 1, 2015.
The restaurant industry, particularly major pizza chains, have been opposed to the rule. The American Pizza Community previously told National Journal that it supported a one-year delay while it is also seeking broader changes to the mandate. A House bill, which has not yet had a committee hearing, would allow pizza chains to post their calorie information online instead of in their stores.
Public-health advocates support the menu-label provision, arguing that evidence suggests it would lead to restaurants producing healthier food. Some had expected a delay, though, after the pushback from the industry.
"Hopefully, this is a way to keep a wide variety of food outlets included in the mandated rule to post calories by giving them time to sort out the calories calculations for their menus/menu boards," said Sara Bleich, a public-health professor at Johns Hopkins University, after the FDA announced the delay.
The agency did not indicate that any businesses would be exempted from the rule despite the delay.
The postponement came after businesses voiced concerns that "covered establishments do not have adequate time to fully implement the requirements of the rule by the compliance date," the FDA said.
(Image via Tupungato / Shutterstock.com )