One of the lesser controversial measures contained in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is heating up.
The reform law includes a requirement that food retailers include details on the calories contained in the food they sell. These "menu labeling rules" are being handled by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Recommended For You
The rules are supposed to take effect in December. But, reports the D.C. news source The Hill, a bipartisan group of 32 U.S. Senate members is lobbying the FDA to further clarify the rules and to push back the deadline to give employers more time to comply.
Led by the Senate health committee's U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and U.S. Sen. Patty Murphy (D-Wash.), the rule challengers asked the FDA to provide the industry with clear, consistent guidance — which they say is lacking in the current language.
While the senators said the existing rules would impose a special burden on small businesses, the rules only apply to food operators with 20 or more locations.
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
Dan Cook
Dan Cook is a journalist and communications consultant based in Portland, OR. During his journalism career he has been a reporter and editor for a variety of media companies, including American Lawyer Media, BusinessWeek, Newhouse Newspapers, Knight-Ridder, Time Inc., and Reuters. He specializes in health care and insurance related coverage for BenefitsPRO.
