FDA gives chain restaurants an extra year before they must display calories on menus

  • Rule requires chain restaurants with 20 or more locations to 'clearly and conspicuously' post food's calorie content on their menu displays
  • FDA is extending the deadline because restaurants and retailers said they needed more time to put rules in place 
  • Includes prepared foods at grocery and convenience stores, movie theaters, bakeries, coffee shops, pizza delivery and amusement parks
  • Rules do not extend to prepared foods intended for more than one person and independent establishments are completely exempt

By Associated Press

Published: 12:23 EST, 9 July 2015 | Updated: 14:35 EST, 9 July 2015

Chain restaurants now have an extra year to prepare before they will be required to display calorie labels on all their menus.   

The Food and Drug Administration announced Thursday that restaurants and other establishments now have until December 1, 2016, to comply with federal menu labeling rules — one year beyond the original deadline.

FDA said it is extending the deadline after restaurants and other retailers said they needed more time to put the rules in place. 

The Food and Drug Administration have given all chain restaurants a year-long extension to comply with federal rules that will require them to display calorie labels on all their menus (pictured is McDonalds) 

The Food and Drug Administration have given all chain restaurants a year-long extension to comply with federal rules that will require them to display calorie labels on all their menus (pictured is McDonalds) 

The agency said those businesses are in the process of training workers, installing menus and menu boards and developing software and technology for more efficient and specific calorie label displays.

The rules will require chain restaurants and other establishments that sell prepared foods and have 20 or more locations to post the calorie content of food 'clearly and conspicuously' on their menus, menu boards and displays. 

That includes prepared foods at grocery and convenience stores and in movie theaters, bakeries, coffee shops, pizza delivery stores and amusement parks.

The menus and displays will tell diners that a 2,000-calorie diet is used as the basis for daily nutrition, noting that individual calorie needs may vary. 

Additional nutritional information beyond calories, including sodium, fat and sugar must be available upon request.

The Obama administration has said menu labeling is just one way to combat obesity, since Americans eat and drink about one-third of their calories away from home.

The rules do not extend to prepared foods that are intended for more than one person - such as a large container of fruit or a rotisserie chicken. 

Pizza parlors will only have to display estimated calories ranges, instead of the exact figures required from other chain restaurants, but the information will also need to be available when ordering online.

All restaurants that sell prepared foods and have 20 or more locations (such as Sonic, pictured here) must post the calorie content of their food 'clearly and conspicuously' on their menus, menu boards and displays 

All restaurants that sell prepared foods and have 20 or more locations (such as Sonic, pictured here) must post the calorie content of their food 'clearly and conspicuously' on their menus, menu boards and displays 

The restaurants are also exempt from displaying the calorie counts for daily specials and do not have to include information for drinks mixed at the bar, according to the Washington Post. 

Independent establishments are completely exempt from the labeling rules, but vending machines will be required to include the caloric information for each item on a placard, poster or digital display.   

Michael Taylor, FDA's deputy commissioner for foods, said the agency will issue more detailed guidance later this summer to address some of the restaurants' and retailers' questions on the rules.

As they await that guidance, the restaurant industry said the delay would be helpful.

'Some of our members are ready to implement menu labeling while others still need more time,' said Dawn Sweeney, president and CEO if the National Restaurant Association.

McDonalds, Burger King, Subway, Taco Bell, Sonic and Starbucks currently all have their calorie counts on display. 

The rules had already been delayed when the FDA issued them last November. 

Taco Bell (pictured), Burger King, Subway and Starbucks also already have their calorie counts on display

Taco Bell (pictured), Burger King, Subway and Starbucks also already have their calorie counts on display

They were first required by Congress in the 2010 health overhaul, but FDA took several years to write them as supermarkets, convenience stores and pizza delivery companies aggressively lobbied against them. 

Those businesses said the rules would be more burdensome for them than they would be for restaurants, which typically have more limited offerings.

Democrat Rep. Rosa DeLauro, a longtime menu labeling advocate from Connecticut, criticized the FDA's further delay and said restaurants and retailers have had enough time.

'Industry is doing everything they can to stonewall implementation of this important public health tool,' she said. 

'It takes time to change signage, packaging, and data systems. I understand that.'

But ultimately we need to make sure consumers have nutrition information available to them when making purchasing decisions.' 

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