Pizza-delivery chains and other restaurants with offsite-heavy business may be off the hook for some aspects of the FDA’s menu-labeling rules taking effect nationwide next year, as a bill approved by a House committee Wednesday could narrow those requirements for some chains, the Associated Press reports.
Under the bill passed by the House Energy and Commerce Committee, chain restaurants receiving a large volume of remote orders would be able to post calorie information online rather than in-unit, and would also have greater flexibility in terms of how they post that information, the AP says.
The FDA’s menu-labeling rules have seen a few iterations since first introduced, as pushback from businesses asserted that earlier versions were too confusing.
Wednesday’s vote was applauded by the American Pizza Community, an industry group comprised of pizza companies, suppliers and franchisees.
“This bill does not gut FDA’s regulations, but instead offers reasonable changes that will alleviate the burden on small business owners while ensuring that consumers have easy access to important nutrition information,” APC Chair Lynn Liddle said in a statement. “APC is thrilled to see such a large bipartisan coalition form in an effort to pass this bill.”
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