The Food and Drug Administration is pushing back enforcement of menu labeling requirements for chain restaurants and retailers from the scheduled start day of May 5, according to a group lobbying for a delay.
NACS, an association for c-stores and gas stations, said the FDA revealed its intent to postpone the rules in a government filing that has yet to be made public. The group did not say when the FDA intends to start enforcement, or why it decided on the delay.
NACS' assessment could not be confirmed. The documents it cited are listed as not yet published on government websites. The trade group was the only party reporting a delay, as of this posting.
The FDA declined to comment on the NACS report, saying any changes in the final rules for menu labeling would be published in the Federal Register, the official channel for airing government information.
“The National Restaurant Association strongly cautions against any actions that would delay implementation of the menu labeling law," Cicely Simpson, the association's EVP of government affairs and policy, said in the statement. "Previously, menu labeling laws were being passed on a state-by-state or city-by-city basis and in some cases, counties were competing with cities to pass similar laws. If the federal standard is repealed, we will once again return to this patchwork approach that will be even more burdensome for restaurants to implement and will not have the legal safeguards included in the federal law."
The mandate for chain restaurants to reveal nutritional information on their menu boards is part of the Affordable Care Act. Republican leaders of the House of Representatives aired a new omnibus healthcare bill yesterday that would replace so-called Obamacare. The new effort follows a failure to repeal the ACA and replace it with a new measure several weeks ago.
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