The Food and Drug Administration extended Thursday its deadline for comments on restaurant menu-labeling rules by 30 days, after the National Restaurant Association asked for extra time beyond the original July 3 deadline.
In May, the FDA said it would delay menu-labeling compliance for restaurants and retail food establishments by a year, to May 7, 2018, and allowed a 60-day period for comments.
The NRA petitioned for a 60-day comments extension, saying it would have difficulty meeting the July 3 deadline. The FDA is granting an additional 30-day period.
The comments deadline will now be in early August, and the FDA decision does not change the compliance date in 2018.
"We appreciate the Food and Drug Administration granting our request for a 30-day extension to offer comments on menu labeling,” said Cicely Simpson, the NRA’s executive vice president for government affairs and policy, in a statement. “This is an issue that is extremely important to our industry, and it's vital that our members' voices are heard.”
When it extended the menu-labeling compliance date in May, the Department of Health and Human Services, the parent agency to the FDA, said: “We are taking this action to enable us to consider how we might further reduce the regulatory burden or increase flexibility while continuing to achieve our regulatory objectives, in keeping with the administration’s policies.”
Menu labeling requirements were originally included in the Affordable Care Act, which was signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010.
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