The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) finalized two rules requiring that calorie information be listed on menus and menu boards in chain restaurants, retail food establishments, and vending machines with more than 20 locations. These rules are intended to provide American consumers –who on average eat and drink more than one-third of their calories away from home – with more nutritional information about the foods they eat at retail establishments. The rules are required by the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
The FDA considered more than 1,100 comments from stakeholders and consumers in developing these rules. In response to comments, the FDA narrowed the scope of foods covered by the rule to focus on restaurant-type food, made other adjustments such as ensuring the flexibility for multi-serving dishes like pizza to be labeled by the slice rather than as a whole pie, and provided establishments additional time to comply with the rule.
