Food & Drug Administration recently issued draft guidance on how chain restaurants should implement the Obamacare requirement that chain restaurants display calorie counts of items they sell, including alcohol.
First thing to note: The guidance applies to chain restaurants only. But not everything a layman would consider a chain is a chain. One example: Members of a cooperative buying group. Suppose Bob’s Co-Op C-Store serves food, including beer and wine. Jane’s Co-Op C-Store also serves beer and wine. But they don’t buy that wine from the same vendor. They don’t need to post calorie counts.
Also, beers listed on a menu board must have calorie counts listed. But a beer served on tap that isn’t listed on the menu or menu board is considered foods on display.
Alcoholic beverages that are foods on display and are not self-serve are exempt from the menu labeling requirements. For example, beers that are served on tap, including local craft brews and regular offerings that are served by a bartender, would not require calorie and other nutrition labeling.
In addition, beers that are listed on a menu or menu board for less than a total of 60 days per calendar year (e.g., pumpkin beer offered in the fall) meet the definition of a temporary menu item and therefore, are exempt from menu labeling requirements.
FDA’s draft guidance notes that if a supplier doesn’t provide calorie counts, a food establishment may use a “reasonable basis” for nutrient content declarations. This could include industry generated databases, USDA’s National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, calculations based on ingredients and processing of the products, calculations based on TTB’s methods for determining nutrient values for voluntary Statements of Average Analysis and voluntary Serving Facts statements, etc.
Comments are due Jan. 6, 2018.