Bills
| 3.23.22

Should the FDA’s Nutritional Information Disclosure Requirement be Delayed? (H.R. 2017)

Do you support or oppose this bill?

What is H.R. 2017?

(Updated December 20, 2019)

This bill would revise the nutritional information that certain restaurants and retail food establishments have to disclose to consumers. The requirements came from a 2014 rule on labeling from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). 

The rule applies to restaurants and other food retailers that receive more than half of their revenue from food sales. It establishes specific nutrition facts that food vendors must provide, including the number of:

  • Calories in the whole menu item;

  • Servings and the calories per serving;

  • Calories per common unit of a food item for multi-serving items that are divided before serving.

Nutritional information can be given on a remote-access menu (like an internet menu) for businesses where food orders are mostly placed off the premises. Establishments with self-serve food can comply with the requirements for restaurants or place signs with nutritional information next to each food item.

A company’s nutrient content disclosures would be considered to have a “reasonable basis” if they fall within acceptable allowances for variation, like serving size, ingredients, and accidental human error.

Establishments with standard menu items that come in different flavors, varieties, or combinations that are listed as a single menu item can determine and disclose nutritional information using specified methods or those used by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Regulations created as a result of this legislation cannot take effect earlier than two years after the final regulations are released.

Argument in favor

Nutritional disclosures shouldn’t be imposed on restaurants until all regulations on the matter are final. Businesses need more time and options to adapt to the new regulations.

Argument opposed

These nutritional disclosure requirements shouldn’t be delayed. Consumers have the right to know all the nutritional information of the food they are buying so they can make informed decisions.

Impact

Consumers of food, food vendors, and the FDA.

Cost of H.R. 2017

The CBO estimates that implementing this bill would cost $9 million over the 2016-2021 period.

Additional Info

In-Depth: Sponsoring Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) introduced this legislation to protect food vendors from an “unworkable” FDA regulation that would otherwise affect grocery stores, restaurants, and other food establishments:

“In their current form, menu labeling regulations are fundamentally impractical and unnecessarily expensive. Compliance with this regulation is estimated to cost American businesses more than $1 billion and 500,000 hours of paperwork. This is time, energy, and financial resources that should be spent on creating jobs and building up the economy – not on paperwork. That’s why, with the input of stakeholders and my colleagues, I introduced H.R. 2017. This legislation is commonsense and provides access to calorie information in a practical, flexible, and simpler manner by clarifying – not significantly altering – complicated regulations.”

The House Energy and Commerce Committee passed this legislation on a vote of 36-12 with one member voting present. Currently the bill has the support of 99 cosponsors in the House, including eight Democrats and 91 Republicans.


Of Note: The FDA first proposed its nutritional information rule in April 2011 before taking their final action in July 2011. After receiving public comments, the FDA delayed the rule’s effective date from six months after the rule’s final publication to one year, before again extending the compliance date to December 1, 2016.


Media:

Summary by Eric Revell
(Photo Credit: Flickr user Laine Trees)