Obamacare Calorie-Labeling Rule Takes Effect Nationwide

Just how many calories does that gigantic tub of movie theater popcorn with extra butter actually contain? Beginning Monday, it’s no longer guesswork as an Obama-era rule takes effect. Also affected are sit-down restaurants, grocery stores, convenience stores, doughnut shops, coffee outlets, pizza delivery companies and vending machine companies.

Chains with at least 20 stores are required to comply with the rule, which is intended to get Americans to eat healthier. Restaurants will also have to provide additional information, such as fat and sodium content.

The requirement was included in the Affordable Care Act, and is among a handful of provisions that have been allowed to go forward. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, appointed to the post by President Trump, says it helps address the country’s growing obesity epidemic.

Implementation of the menu labeling rule has been delayed several times since it was finalized in 2014. Though the National Restaurant Association generally favors the rule to provide uniformity to a patchwork of requirements from cities and states.

“This is a welcome development for both the restaurant industry and consumers, and we are pleased that our efforts to preserve the May 7th compliance date were successful," Cicely Simpson, the trade group's executive vice president said in a statement that applauded Gottlieb and the Trump administration for pushing "this policy across the finish line."

"By setting a clear standard, this rule provides the necessary guidance and expectations for America’s restaurants to follow in order to continue delivering a high-quality experience and customer service to everyone who walks through our doors, as well as the transparency our customers demand," she said.

Some other industry groups worry it will be burdensome.

Jon Taets, a spokesman for the National Association of Convenience Stores, told CNN the group’s members “will welcome any flexibility the FDA may be able to provide to comply with this onerous rule.”

The FDA won’t immediately begin enforcing the new rules, but will focus on education in the coming year.

Domino’s Pizza gets about 90 percent of its orders by phone or online, and spokesman Tim McIntyre told CNN he’s hopeful the FDA will allow it and similarly positioned chains to comply with the rule by listing calorie information on their websites, rather than on menu boards.

“All we are asking for is common-sense approach to put this information where people are ... and we believe the internet is where people are going to go to get this information,” he said. “The FDA has put out thousands of pages of guidance to help restaurants and other food providers comply with the law, such as helping grocery stores decide where to put information on salad bars. Under FDA guidance, if pizza delivery stores don’t have menu boards, they don’t have to add any under the law.”

For some chains, including McDonald’s, Burger King, Taco Bell and Panera Bread, implementation of the rule won’t cause a big change. They’ve been listing calorie content for years.

Calorie labeling is one tact to address the nation’s growing obesity epidemic. Some studies have reported that obesity among children and adolescents has remained steady or declined in recent years, but the authors of a study published in March in the journal Pediatrics reported “a significant increase in severe obesity among children aged 2 and 5 since the 2013-2014 cycle, a trend that continued upward for many subgroups.

Margo Wootan, vice president for nutrition for the consumer advisory group Center for Science and Public Interest, told CNN that menu labeling “isn’t a silver bullet” to address obesity.

“It’s just one of dozens of things we should be doing to help Americans maintain a healthy weight and reduce their risk of diet-related health problems like diabetes, heart disease and cancer.”

Some conservatives, including Daren Bakst, a fellow with The Heritage Foundation, have called the rule government overreach.

“It’s not up to the government to influence what people eat — that should be left up to each individual,” he told CNN.

However, Gottlieb told Politico nutrition issue aren’t political and that the obesity epidemic is a serious and worsening public health issue. When it was slipped into the Affordable Care Act, the rule had the support of both Democrats and Republicans.

“I do not see these nutrition issues as a right-versus-left issue,” he said. “Using information as a vehicle to try to inspire competition is a conservative notion.

“I’m quite sure that a lot of conservatives, including myself, have turned over packages in stores to look at the calorie information and the nutrition information and appreciate that that information is there,” he said.

Image: In 2008, New York City, New York, became the first city in the country to require chain restaurants to post the calorie count of each food next the items on their menus (Photo by Chris Hondros/Getty Images News/Getty Images)