DeLauro, Harkin Praise New Menu Labeling Guidelines

Washington, DC –Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro (CT-3) and Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) responded to new guidance issued by the Food and Drug Administration today outlining the steps to be taken by chain restaurants to comply with new menu labeling requirements.

Included in the new health reform law, the Affordable Care Act, these nutrition labeling requirements will set federal standards for restaurants with 20 or more locations. The guidance released by the FDA today is intended to help restaurants move toward compliance with these requirements, which include posting the number of calories for menu items on the menus, making additional nutritional information available, and ensuring that such information is clearly posted.

Senator Harkin, Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, and Congresswoman DeLauro, Chairwoman of the House Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration Subcommittee, co-authored the legislation upon which this provision is based in 2003. Both legislators worked carefully with the restaurant industry and the public health community to craft this bipartisan and broadly endorsed provision, and consider this to be one of the most important elements in the Affordable Care Act, helping Americans to take control of their health by preventing chronic disease.

"This is a great step forward towards ensuring that Americans will be able to make more informed choices about the food they are eating, which will help to combat obesity, cut health care costs, and improve and enhance our lives. The FDA's efforts in making this a reality are admirable, as is the cooperation and participation of the restaurant industry as we move forward," said Congresswoman DeLauro. "With childhood obesity rates tripling over the last 30 years, this legislation is absolutely imperative to the health of our nation."

"The issuance of today's guidance regarding menu labeling is an important step in efforts to empower consumers by giving them the information necessary to make sound decisions about their health," said Senator Harkin. "And the endorsement of this effort by the restaurant industry and the public health community demonstrates just how far this effort has come. Just as consumers embraced the nutrition information on packaged foods when Congress made it available 20 years ago, so too will they use similar information at chain restaurants when the requirements of menu labeling are fully implemented."