President Trump is not the only one taking a giant eraser to Barack Obama’s legacy.
The House of Representatives has just passed a bill rescinding many of the former President’s restrictive menu labeling rules, and potentially providing enough flexibility so that restaurants won’t have to label the calories for every variation of items on their menus.
The Common Sense Nutrition Disclosure Act, introduced by Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) and Tony Cárdenas (D-Calif.), passed, 266-157, with the support of 32 Democrats.The legislation keeps business owners from having to provide calorie counts for every possible variation of a sandwich, salad or slice of pizza. Instead, sandwich shops and pizza chains could give a calorie range, base the calorie count on how the item is commonly ordered or list the number of calories per serving.The bill also allows restaurants to post calorie information online instead of on a menu board inside a store if the majority of orders are placed online, and it provides a 90-day window for businesses to correct any violations.
The bill acts to replace the confusing compliance guidelines that have been offered by the Food and Drug Administration, to translate the regulations promulgated when the “Affordable Care Act” was enacted.
McMorris Rodgers called the calorie rule, which originated in the Affordable Care Act, one of the “most burdensome rules in the Obama administration.””Under the current rule, every deli, salad bar offering, every possible pizza combination, will have to be calculated, and their calorie count displayed on physical menus,” she said prior to the vote. “Last week I was home in Spokane, visited my fresh basket, this newly opened grocery store is also a great place to eat lunch, with fresh local options and made-to-order food. This rule would mean new physical signage every time this locally owned grocer changes the options they offer, which is just about every day.”
Michigan Congressman Tim Walberg (R) reviewed the challenges businesses faced trying to comply with the onerous regulations.
Pizza makers have been hard-hit, and have been pressing for more practical rules for supplying the required information.
They say that because many pizza chains receive a majority of their orders from the internet or over the phone for delivery, rather than in the physical store, they should be able to provide the mandated nutrition information on their websites instead of spending money on new or updated menu boards to install in stores.
It is good to see another Obamacare requirement being chipped away, and the fact that Democrats voted to erase these rules is the pepperoni on the pizza of my political news today.
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