The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a fact sheet to inform stakeholders about the agency’s continued efforts to implement menu labeling in chain restaurants and similar retail food establishments. FDA will continue to support industry to implement the menu labeling requirements, assess implementation progress to further inform education and outreach as well as engage with state, local, tribal and territorial regulatory partners to ensure consistent implementation of the menu labeling requirements.
Chain restaurants and similar retail food establishments were required to comply with the menu labeling requirements on May 7, 2018. The requirements are meant to provide consumers with consistent nutrition information, including calories, for standard menu items (including food on display and self-service foods) in certain establishments with 20 or more locations. This enables consumers to make informed and healthy dietary choices for themselves and their families when eating foods away from home.
For the first year of implementation, FDA focused on education and outreach to help chain restaurants and similar retail food establishments understand the new menu labeling regulations and help them to understand their compliance responsibilities. Moving forward FDA will continue to provide technical assistance and to work flexibly with these establishments to help them meet the requirements. In addition, FDA plans to assess generally industry implementation of the primary components of the menu labeling requirements to further inform education and outreach efforts. The agency is also developing a document presenting FDA’s menu labeling regulations in model ordinance form for states and localities that may find such a tool helpful in adopting menu labeling requirements identical to FDA’s.
