Uproar over ObamaCare’s menu rules
February 18, 2014, 01:36 pm
By Ben Goad
A bipartisan group of lawmakers is
asking the Obama administration to
scale back draft regulations under ObamaCare
that would force restaurants to post nutritional information on their menus.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is close to finalizing a rule
requiring calorie labels on vending machines and at restaurants and “similar
retail food establishments.” Proposed in 2011, the regulations stem from the
Affordable Care Act and are designed to combat obesity by helping consumers
make healthier choices.
But the group of 24 lawmakers said
the draft regulations, which apply to restaurants with 20 or more locations, go
beyond Congress’ intent and would create painful new expenses for certain
businesses, including delivery joints and eateries that specialize in
made-to-order dishes
“Specifically, the proposed rule
limits the ability of businesses to determine for themselves how best to
provide nutritional information to customers,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter
to FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg.
“As a result, the proposal harms both those non-restaurants that were not
intended to be captured by the menu labeling law as well as those restaurants
that have flexibility and variability in the foods they offer.”
The lawmakers pressed the FDA to
limit the scope of the regulations, which they say would harm small businesses
that are already complying separately with the 1990 Nutrition Labeling and
Education Act.
Pizza places and grocery stores in
particular have complained about the draft standards, saying they would be all
but impossible to maintain. For instance, there are 34 million different
combinations of pizza toppings, according to an industry trade group. It’s
impractical to require that they list calorie counts for all of the options,
they say.
The lawmakers, led by Reps. Cathy
McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) and Loretta Sanchez (D-Calif.), are pushing
legislation that would limit the scope of the menu rule to businesses where
food service is the primary source of revenue, allow delivery restaurants to
post their nutritional information online and allow firms to choose between
multiple approaches for labeling made-to-order items.
The bill, which also would limit
penalties for labeling mistakes, has attracted more than 50 co-sponsors, and
there is companion legislation in the Senate.
“Yet, to date there is little
evidence to suggest that the FDA has considered these alternatives,” the
lawmakers wrote to Hamburg.
“Instead, it appears that the FDA has withdrawn from interacting with affected
industries and instead proceeded on a path that will unnecessarily burden many
small businesses across the country.”
Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
Margaret A.
Hamburg is the commissioner for the Food
and Drug Administration (FDA), and a VP for the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank).
Note: Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think
tank) was a funder for the Nuclear
Threat Initiative (think tank).
Jessica Tuchman Mathews is a director
at the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think
tank), the president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
(think tank), a director at the American Friends of Bilderberg
(think tank), and a 2008 Bilderberg conference participant (think tank).
Ed Griffin’s interview with
Norman Dodd in 1982
(The investigation into the
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace uncovered the plans for population
control by involving the United
States in war)
Gregory
B. Craig is a trustee at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
(think tank), and was the White House counsel for the Barack Obama administration.
William H.
Donaldson is a trustee at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
(think tank), and a trustee at the Committee
for Economic Development.
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace (think tank), and the Committee for Economic Development.
George Soros
was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society.
Donna
S. Morea was a trustee at the Committee
for Economic Development, and the EVP for the CGI Group Inc.
CGI Group Inc.
was the Obamacare contractor that
developed Healthcare.gov web site.
Obamacare
is Barack Obama’s signature policy
initiative.
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