Nation & World News
Want fries with that? New government rules may give hungry customers pause
(Photo Illustration by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
By Washington News Bureau
May 2, 2016Chain restaurants with 20 or more locations now have one year to display how many calories are packed in each item on the menu, the FDA announced late last week.
"It’s a huge public health tool to give consumers informed choice," said Colin Schwartz, who works in nutrition advocacy at the Center for Science in the Public Interest. "It can make a huge difference on the obesity epidemic."
The regulations have been delayed and debated for six years, and there's still an effort in Congress to prevent them from going into effect. Earlier this year, the House passed a bill that would roll back many of the new regulations.
"In Main Street America, there was just a real frustration on how this was going to work," said Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash.
The repeal bill is unlikely to get through the Senate or past a presidential veto.
Supermarkets and convenience stores are the biggest critics of the rules. Many fast-food chains have already added the calorie counts in anticipation of the FDA rules.
The menu rules were part of President Obama's signature piece of legislation, the Affordable Care Act, during in his first term in office.
He'll be out of office by the time businesses are required to comply in May 2017.
