WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The argument over who should be included in and exempt from the menu-labeling law continues as 36 members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives signed letters urging the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to exclude grocery stores from compliance.
The letters suggest FDA adopts its own alternative--set forth in the proposed regulations released earlier this summer--that limits the scope of the law to restaurants with menus or establishments whose primary business is selling restaurant foods.
The Food Marketing Institute (FMI) lauded [image-nocss] the move. "We thank these senators and representatives for bringing this issue to the attention of FDA," said FMI president and CEO Leslie G. Sarasin. "We believe these letters clarify that members of Congress did not intend for the recently passed chain restaurant menu-labeling law to be applied to supermarkets."
When the FDA closed the commenting period on its proposed menu-labeling regulations in July, the National Restaurant Association and other restaurant-focused groups had filed comments recommending all retail food establishments be included. Meanwhile, FMI, NACS and other retail-driven groups recommended excluding most non-restaurant businesses such as supermarkets and convenience stores.
FMI stated its position upon news of the letters: "Restaurants requested the menu-labeling law in order to provide them a national, uniform standard that pre-empts various state and local menu-labeling laws. None of the various state and local restaurant menu-labeling laws currently apply to supermarkets. However, FDA's proposed rule attempts to apply the restaurant nutrition regulations to grocery stores, even though such a move lacks precedent from state or municipal menu-labeling laws.
"The regulatory community has historically recognized the fundamental differences between the chain restaurant industry and supermarkets or grocery. Existing labeling regulations covering nutrition panels, food safety, allergens, ingredients and country-of-origin labeling are currently applied differently for supermarkets than for restaurants. In addition, grocery stores already comply with the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act, which covers more than 95% of foods sold in a typical supermarket."
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