News

FDA Issues Final Guidance on Menu Labeling

02 May 2016

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has published its final guidance on the menu labeling final rule. This development is significant because it triggers the compliance date for the law, which will be one year from the date that FDA publishes a notice in the Federal Register advising the public that the guidance is available. FDA expects to publish this notice in early May, meaning the compliance date for the final rule would be in early May 2017.

The guidance document is comprised of questions and answers, with many of the questions having been submitted to the agency by the food industry. FDA is providing additional flexibility in a few areas, particularly for “grab and go” items sold in grocery stores; and for declaring calories for combination meals based on the individual components of the meal, where they are specifically listed, rather than using a range with the total possible calories. The below post summarizes some of the key highlights of the guidance, particularly where the guidance provides clarifications not offered in the final rule or preamble.

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Authored by Steve Steinborn & Veronica Colas.