Two consumer advocacy groups recently sued the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for delaying the compliance deadline for the agency’s 2014 menu labeling rule for a fourth time. The menu labeling rule requires menu items offered for sale in restaurants with 20 or more locations to disclose nutritional information and the number of calories in each standard menu item. FDA and Congress previously extended or delayed compliance with the menu labeling rule three times in 2015 and 2016. Before the latest delay, the most recent “compliance date” for the menu labeling rule was May 5, 2017.
This week, the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Director of the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) formally announced that the agency will delay enforcement of its final rule entitled “Food Labeling; Nutrition Labeling of Standard Menu Items in Restaurants and Similar Retail Food Establishments.” The statement marked the second time the agency extended the compliance deadline. Enforcement of the menu labeling rule was scheduled to take effect on December 1, 2016. The date that the FDA will begin enforcing menu labeling provisions is unknown at this time. The delay is the result of a provision in a federal appropriations law that prohibits the FDA from using funds to implement, administer, or enforce the menu labeling rule until one year after the agency issues its final, Level 1 guidance on nutrition labeling of standard menu items in restaurants and similar retail food establishments. FDA has yet to issue that final guidance.
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