WASHINGTON Sen. Thomas Carper announced Tuesday afternoon that he will introduce within a week a federal bill mandating nutrition disclosure from some chain restaurants. Although labeling mandates have been proposed on Capitol Hill before, this one is expected to be supported by industry lobbyists because it would pre-empt a spreading patchwork of local, county and state labeling proposals.
At the National Restaurant Association's Public Affairs Conference here this morning, association officials indicated the Carper bill might vary from segment to segment, with different requirements for quick-service and full-service restaurants. The bill is expected to require the same nutrition information that packaged-goods manufacturers are required to post on their products. The information would not have to be posted on menus, the NRA officials said.
Carper, a Democrat from Delaware, told restaurateurs about the proposal during the Public Affairs Conference. The bill is known as the LEAN Act, an acronym for Labeling Education and Nutrition. The NRA supports the measure in the form that has been outlined by Carper.
Alaw mandating calorie disclosures on the menus and menu boards of some chain restaurants went into effect in New York City earlier this year. A similar bill was slated to go into effect this month in San Francisco, but the date was pushed back to October. A measure mandating nutrition disclosure by certain chain restaurant throughout California is currently on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s desk. Both the city and county of Los Angeles are looking to draft proposals. Research on the issue also is under way in Westchester County, N.Y.
The measures differ in such respects as how large a chain has to be for its local units to be covered by the mandate, as well as what information has to be disclosed and how it has to be provided.
