FDA Unveils Sweeping Calorie Labeling Requirements.

e FDA’s announcement of two new rules “requiring the operators of chain restaurants, movie theaters and vending machines to clearly display calorie information for food and drink products.” The new rules are “new additions to the menu labeling law passed in March 2010 as part of” the ACA. In a statement, Hamburg noted that “Americans eat and drink more than one-third of their calories away from home” and that “these final rules will give consumers more information when they are dining out and help them lead healthier lives.” As far as the specific requirements of the labels are concerned, Manny Alvarez, MD said on Fox News (11/26) that restaurants with 20 or more locations will “have to display not only the caloric content of the food” but also “the sodium, the fat and the unsaturated fats.” When asked about the “goal” of the new regulations, Hamburg says the rules “reflect the fact that overweight and obesity is a huge problem in this country affecting millions and millions of people.” Hamburg went on to say “that consumers have a very big interest in knowing more about the food that they eat and the food that they feed their families,” and so the FDA is “trying to provide uniform, consistent information about calories in particular, but access to other nutritional information as well for consumers when they eat outside the home.” http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/will-labeling-calorie-counts-menus-bring-americas-obesity-rates/