The FDA’s Pizza Minders Your government at work: The pepperoni calorie-count rule.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-fdas-pizza-minders-1492379447
The Food and Drug Administration can’t possibly fulfill all of the responsibilities it claims to have, and here’s one way the Trump Administration can set better priorities: Direct the agency to end its effort to inform Americans that pizza contains calories.
An FDA rule to take effect May 5 requires chain restaurants to post calorie counts on menus. The regulation also covers movie theaters, grocery stores, breweries and other establishments with more than 20 locations. The rule, required by the Affordable Care Act, has been revised and twice delayed in six years, mostly due to objections from a trade coalition called the American Pizza Community. (Regrettably, it does not issue membership cards.)
The more than 100-page rule, perhaps the longest meditation on fast food ever published, says that pizza purveyors must display per slice calorie ranges. Dominos offers 34 million potential combinations, and the number of pepperonis on a pizza can vary based on whether a customer also tosses on green peppers or something else. FDA suggests displaying verbiage like “pepperoni—200 added calories for a one-topping pizza” for every topping. Better have a calculator when ordering.
The regulation also defines menu to include advertisements or flyers that list a phone number or website for ordering—in other words, marketing material. The restaurant must certify that the store made “reasonable” efforts to ensure that calorie estimates are accurate, though the minds behind this rule don’t sound like reliable arbiters of reasonableness. The penalty for noncompliance is fines, jail or, this being America, class-action lawsuits.
The micromanaging extends to menu font and colors, which must be “the same color or in a color at least as conspicuous” as other types, according to FDA guidance. By the way, none of this will help consumers eat less pizza: Most customers place orders online or over the phone, not from a menu board. Dominos offers an online Cal-O-Meter to help customers know what they’re eating. Restaurants are already required to make this information available in stores and the web for those who wish to know.
The rule has also riled grocers who must label tuna sandwiches or other fresh foods where preparation isn’t standardized. A supermarket trade association, the Food Marketing Institute, says compliance will cost at least $1 billion and some grocers may decide to stop selling prepared foods.
A bill in the House would allow chains flexibility on where and how to display the counts, including online if most customers place orders on the web. The Senate has introduced companion legislation but skipped town last week and will almost certainly miss the May 5 enforcement date.
Meanwhile, the Trump Administration could direct the agency to delay or reconsider the rule until Congress acts. That would be a useful step in returning government to its core competencies, assuming any still exist, and allow Americans to make their own judgments about pizza.
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