WASHINGTON (AP) - Under the legislation approved by a House committee on Wednesday, Supermarkets and pizza chains are now about to get some relief from government calorie labeling.
Starting a year from now, restaurants and other food retail outlets, such as grocery stores are required to post the new calorie labels as the bill suggests it. The House bill which was passed by Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash aims to let the rules by the Food and Drug Administration be known to all that labeling in place is a must in a way that is still easy for some businesses to comply.
As stated in the FDA rules, restaurants and other establishments that sell prepared foods are now required to post the calorie content of food "clearly and conspicuously", may it be on their menu or menu boards, or even on displays provided that it can be seen on 20 or more locations. So, prepared foods at grocery and convenience stores and in movie theaters, coffee shops, bakeries, amusement parks and pizza delivery stores are not exempted from this bill and should also do the same.
According to reports, it was the House Energy and Commerce Committee, 36-12, who approved the said house bill. The Committee believes that it will narrow the requirements for labeling in supermarkets, which was brought by their complains about the rules being confusing and burdensome, by allowing stores to use a menu or menu board in a prepared-foods area instead of putting labels on individual items.
Furthermore, instead of at the retail location, the bill also allows restaurants like pizza delivery chains that receive most of their orders remotely to post calorie content online. With this, and in some cases, restaurants and retailers could now identify what constitutes a serving size as well for pizza restaurants, for example, they can also have more flexibility in the way they decide to post calories on each serving.
McMorris Rodgers claims that more than just the merits of displaying calorie information, the bill aims to improve some of the existing regulations which can be beneficial for people.
