By this time next year, expect to see how many calories are in your favorite food at a local restaurant chain.
The Food and Drug Administration published regulatory advice on how businesses can comply with a menu-labeling rule mandated by Obamacare to combat obesity. The agency will enforce the rule starting in early May 2017, about a year after the guidance is published in the Federal Register.
The agency delayed enforcement until next year after the December omnibus spending bill included a provision that struck the rule’s original implementation date of Dec. 1, 2016.
The rule mandates that calorie information must be listed on menus and menu boards in chain restaurants, grocery store eateries and vending machines.
The rule applies only to establishments that have 20 or more locations.
Former FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg has said that Americans “eat and drink about one-third of their calories away from home and people today expect clear information about the products they consume.”
But the rule has gotten criticism from Republicans who worry about the impact and cost of implementing it.
