Should retailers and restaurants post calorie info no matter what the FDA decides?

While the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is holding up rules requiring businesses that sell prepared foods to post signage with calorie counts, chains including Jewel-Osco and Krispy Kreme have decided to display the information anyway. The Chicago Tribune reports that Jewel-Osco, which has been training employees and working on making signage changes for about a year, decided to move ahead in the name of transparency and to help its customers make more informed nutritional decisions. Ken Cruikshank, a sales and merchandising manager at Jewel-Osco, told the Tribune that the chain ultimately decided, despite the FDA's delay, to proceed because "it was the right thing to do." The FDA is looking at possibly rewriting the calorie count rules, which were to go into effect this year after being passed as part of the Affordable Care Act in 2010. The rules, which have been delayed three times since first being issued in Dec. 2014, would require restaurants with 20 or more locations, along with other foodservice providers such as convenience stores and supermarkets, to post the information. A number of chains, which currently display the information for consumers to view, don't appear likely to remove it following the FDA's action. The American Pizza Community, a lobbying group supported by Domino's, opposed the enactment of the rules, claiming they would "impose excessive burdens on thousands of small businesses without achieving meaningful improvements in educating consumers." The group said it supports menu labeling that "provides consumers with information and enables small business owners to comply with flexibility while continuing to thrive and create jobs.” Margo Wooten, director of nutrition policy at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, rejected the argument that opposition was intended to protect the interests of small businesses. "Republicans are just as likely as Democrats to suffer from diabetes, heart disease and other diet-related health problems," Ms Wooten said in a statement. "Yet the Trump Administration is myopically putting Big Food’s interests over the interests of American consumers."

• FDA delays ObamaCare calorie count rule – The Hill
• Some food chains to post calorie this week despite labeling rule delay – Chicago Tribune
• American Pizza Community Applauds USFDA For Decision to Postpone Menu Labeling Implementation – American Pizza Community
• Trump Administration Undermining School Meals, Menu Labeling – Center for Science in the Public Interest