Anita Jones-Mueller of Healthy Dining continues her two-part look at the Food and Drug Administration's recently issued guidance regarding the implementation of new federal menu-labeling legislation. Click here for the first installment, where she discusses what restaurants and menu items are covered, and how chains will be expected to post nutrition information.
What about restaurants with 19 locations or fewer?
In July, the FDA issued a Federal Register notice that explains how restaurants and similar retail food establishments with fewer than 20 locations can voluntarily register to become subject to new federal menu-labeling requirements. Why would a restaurant want to register? Although the guidance document outlining the compliance and pre-emption details has not been released, it looks like there are two main benefits of registering:
- The FDA states that chains with fewer than 20 locations “can still be regulated under state and local nutrition labeling laws that are not ‘identical to’ the federal requirements. If these restaurants and similar retail food establishments voluntarily register, they will no longer be subject to state or local nutrition labeling requirements unless those requirements are identical to federal requirements.”
- This registration should provide the same legal protection from frivolous lawsuits as the federal legislation does for restaurants with 20 or more locations.
The FDA is now accepting voluntary registrations, although the National Restaurant Association recommends waiting until final guidance documents are issued. At this point, the FDA has not set a date for releasing the guidance documents for voluntary registration, although Dan Roehl, public affairs specialist at the NRA, says he “expects them soon.”
What about current regional and state labeling regulations?
Roehl of the NRA said that all state and local menu-labeling rules "that are not identical [to federal requirements] are pre-empted by the new federal law." The FDA recently issued a final guidance document confirming that “state and local governments cannot directly or indirectly impose any nutrition labeling requirements on chain retail food establishments [with 20 locations or more] that are not 'identical to' requirements imposed by section 4205 [the federal menu labeling regulation]." Since the FDA has not issued the final guidance, there are several “unknowns” when it comes to what is considered “identical to” the federal menu-labeling provisions and how this will be interpreted in regions and states that have already passed menu-labeling regulations. You may want to consult the guidance document and your state restaurant association until more information is available.
What should our restaurant be doing now?
Get ready. The FDA should be issuing final guidance by the end of the year. Now is the time to get your nutrition information completed so that once the guidance is finalized, your restaurant will be set to follow the steps for implementation. Even if your restaurant has nutrition information, it is important to take time now to assess the accuracy of your data. Your guests trust your brand. When calories are printed on your menu or menu board, as is required with this legislation, it is important that your customers trust the accuracy of your nutrition data, too.
Plan for long-term maintenance. With this law, it will be important that your restaurant set up processes to keep the information updated and accurate in the future. Also, you may want to take the time now to test and implement simple modifications to your recipes that can reduce unnecessary calories, fat and/or sodium.
How to submit comments to the FDA
Visit http://www.regulations.gov to submit electronic comments and send written comments to: Division of Dockets Management (HFA-305), Food and Drug Administration, 5630 Fishers Lane, Room 1061, Rockville, MD 20852. Identify your comments with Docket Number FDA-2010-D-0370. If you are a member of NRA and have comments, you can direct your comments to Dan Roehl at DRoehl@Restaurant.org. Roehl is collecting comments and the NRA will be submitting them on behalf of their members.
Anita Jones-Mueller is the founder and president of Healthy Dining in San Diego. E-mail Anita at Anita@HealthyDiningFinder.com or visit www.HealthyDiningFinder.com.
Comments
Post a CommentThanks for the great content!
I just wanted to say thank you for the information because it was very useful for our current customer base. We sent out a e-mail blast to our customers who have bought menu covers from us in the past. We received more positive feed back from this specific e-mail than any of our other weekly e-mail. Thanks for all of your great content we use it all the time
Could not agree more
Could not agree more about the importance of accuracy on your menu covers. It's always scary to post such information, but if you are confident in the healthiness of your food it can be a great way to attract health-conscious eaters.