FDA agrees to enforce menu labeling rule in May 2018
On September 27, U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan approved an agreement that paves the way for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to begin enforcing regulations requiring chain restaurants, grocery stores, and convenience stores to include calorie counts on menus in May 2018.
On September 27, U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan approved an agreement that paves the way for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to begin enforcing regulations requiring chain restaurants, grocery stores, and convenience stores to include calorie counts on menus in May 2018. The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) and the National Consumers League (NCL) sued the FDA in June after the agency abandoned an earlier enforcement deadline only one day before enforcement was due to begin. The nonprofit law firm Earthjustice, which represents CSPI and NCL, and the Dept. of Justice (DOJ) agreed to stay further proceedings in that lawsuit following an August 25 statement from FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb providing assurance that there will be no further delay and no changes to the menu labeling requirements.
“As a doctor, father, and the head of the U.S. Food & Drug Administration, I believe that everyone is entitled to the information they need to make informed decisions about the food they eat,” said Gottlieb in the August 25 statement. The commissioner announced that the agency would issue key guidance by the end of the year, guidance that the FDA believes will allow businesses to comply on time.
The FDA finalized the menu labeling rule in 2014, with compliance and enforcement due to begin before the end of 2015. The agency subsequently delayed enforcement until May 2017 and then, in the challenged rule, until May 2018. According to the Joint Motion to Stay, the agreement provides that the lawsuit challenging the delay will proceed only if the FDA announces an additional delay of enforcement or fails to issue guidance to industry by the end of 2017. The guidance will clarify the menu labeling rule and aid implementation—but cannot weaken the rule’s requirements.
Joint Motion to Stay (pdf)