House Passes H.R. 2017, the Common Sense Nutrition Disclosure Act

Congressman Kevin Cramer announced today the U.S. of Representatives passed H.R. 2017, the Common Sense Nutrition Disclosure Act. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires nutrition information, including the number of calories in menu options, to be provided to customers at restaurants or retail food establishment that have 20 or more locations. This bill clarifies the information retail food chain establishments must disclose about nutrition to consumers to prevent overly burdensome regulations for establishments, such as convenience stores, supermarkets, grocery stores and pizza restaurants, and to provide flexibility in how restaurants display calorie information.

Specifically, the bill allows retail food establishments where the majority of orders are placed by customers who are off-premises at the time such order is placed, such as pizza restaurants, to disclose nutritional information on a menu available on the Internet. The bill also eliminates criminal penalties and allows restaurants and retailers to take corrective action. In addition it preempts civil litigation for violations of the federal menu labeling law and any state laws that may exist. The bill accommodates for inadvertent variations which occur during the food preparation process.

"This bill corrects another unintended consequence of Obamacare," said Cramer. "These menu regulations impose an unrealistic and burdensome requirement on many small town convenience stores and restaurants. H.R. 2017 provides the regulatory flexibility for small businesses while ensuring the consumer has access to the information they need."

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released the final rule implementing this rule on Dec. 1, 2014. The rulemaking process was described by former FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg as "thorny," due to the more than one thousand comments received. One of the largest issues with the poorly constructed regulations was the challenge in determining caloric information for customizable meals such as pizzas and burritos.

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