Some on Capitol Hill don't think their constituents should be bombarded with calorie counts when they go out to eat. Or rather, they shouldn't have to be.
Bipartisan legislation in the House and the Senate aims to soften rules put in place by the Food and Drug Administration as a part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Members of both parties have complained that businesses in their districts cannot afford to comply with the new regulations, which require restaurants, grocery stores and convenience stores to list the calories for any prepared food items they sell.
The rule means that restaurants, as well as a grocery store that also sells prepared foods, would be required to inform customers of the number of calories in each food. But it would only apply to companies with at least 20 locations.
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It's not the restaurants that lawmakers are worried about; it's the grocery stores. A bill proposed by Sens. Roy Blunt, R-MO, and August King, I-Maine, would exempt businesses that get less than 50 percent of their revenue from prepared foods.
The rules, which were supposed to take effect in December, have already been significantly delayed. After facing intense pressure from members of Congress, the FDA announced this summer that it would push back implementation until after the 2016 election. But the most recent bill would delay implementation even further.
In the House, Reps. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) and Loretta Sanchez (D-Calif.) have teamed up on similar legislation. It appears to be a rare instance of bipartisan co-operation. In fact, the bill has already attracted 89 Democratic co-sponsors in the House, according to the Hill. And although the Senate bill still lacks an official Democratic name, King is an independent who caucuses and typically votes with the Democrats.
The House bill also contains a provision that was likely the product of intense lobbying by pizza chains that would allow restaurants that do most of their business online or over the phone to list their calories on their websites, rather than in-store.
After the first delay was announced this summer, Marion Nestle, a professor in the department of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University, told the New York Times that the decision was a "huge victory for restaurant lobbyists."
"Food companies must be hoping that if they can delay menu labeling long enough, it will just go away," she said.
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