New labeling rules, an Obamacare mandate taking effect this year, will compel restaurant chains with 20 or more locations to display the calorie counts for every food item on their menus.
Many consumers might welcome access to such information, but the Food and Drug Administration's 319 pages of rules for governing these labeling decisions are anything but straightforward,
the Daily Caller reports, and it is unclear whether these measures result in any real improvement in consumer dietary choices.
For example, pizza chains will be required to provide the number of calories for every single combination of toppings that a customer might order. The more choices your favorite pizza chain offers, the more expensive it will be for it to comply.
Right now, it's uncertain how a restaurant chain is supposed to comply with the new FDA regulations covering alcohol. The FDA has not said whether menus have to provide calorie totals for every specific wine or beer they serve, or whether a restaurant would be in compliance if it just included a range of calories typical for that type of beverage.
The price tag for complying with these laws could be astonishingly high. In total, the American Action Forum estimates that compliance costs for the FDA's new regulations
could even be as high as $1.7 billion — costs that could weigh heavily on the restaurant industry at a time when the economy is limping along and many consumers don't have a lot of discretionary income.
Advocates of these regulations say that providing calorie counts will help people lose weight, but studies of existing menu-labeling laws don't appear to indicate that they have much effect on consumers' eating habits.
A study published in the American Journal of Public Health found that New York City’s calorie-labeling law "did not reduce calories purchased, nor did it appear to help participants to better use the calorie information posted on menus."
A study by the American Journal of Preventive Medicine found that "consumers at one fast-food chain in the Seattle area were unaffected by calorie counts," the Daily Caller reported.
The bottom line may be that a lot of people who order pizza for delivery or purchase beer and wine at a restaurant may not be driven to learn the calorie count for every form of food or drink they consume. But interested or not, these customers will be footing the bill for another expensive consumer mandate from Obamacare, the website concluded.
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