WASHINGTON - On April 1 the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced proposed rules for the menu labeling provisions of last year??s healthcare reform law. The rules address those establishments affected by the law and the elements for their compliance.
The proposed rules impact retail establishments that sell restaurant or restaurant-type food where "the sale of food is the primary business activity of the establishment" and that are part of a chain with 20 or more locations doing business under the same name.
The FDA would consider the sale of food to be an establishment??s "primary business activity" if either (a) the establishment presents itself publicly as a restaurant, or (b) greater than 50% of the establishment??s gross floor area is used for the preparation, service, consumption, or storage of food (including pre-packaged food and beverages).
If this proposal were to become law, most convenience stores would be covered by the proposal. Unsettled is whether the area where stores sell fuel is included in the "gross floor area" calculation.
The FDA proposed two alternate methods for determining impacted food establishments. The first would exclude floor space containing pre-packaged food, and the second would look to revenue, not floor space (covering only those establishments where more than 50 percent of revenues were generated by food sales). Either of these proposals would affect fewer convenience store retailers.
For those establishments covered by the legislation, the FDA proposed a number of compliance requirements, including:
- Calorie Declaration on menu and menu boards: Covered establishments must disclose on menus and menu boards, in a font of the same size and conspicuousness as the name of the food item and the price, the number of calories for each food item on the menu. Menus must also contain a statement concerning suggested daily caloric intake required on menus and menu boards.
- Making Additional Nutrition Information Available in Written Form: Covered establishments also must prominently post on menus and menu boards a statement regarding the availability of additional nutrition information upon request (and provide such information if requested).
NOTE: These are only proposed rules, and NACS will continue working with FDA to ensure that the final rules do not pose an unnecessary burden on convenience stores. To see the proposal in its entirety click here.