Looking for Calorie Labels on Menus? Not Until 2017

WASHINGTON— Wondering how many calories are in that hamburger? Chain restaurants still don’t have to tell you, despite a 6-year-old law requiring calorie labels on menus.Passed as part of the health care overhaul in 2010, the rules will eventually re...
Looking for Calorie Labels on Menus? Not Until 2017
FILE - In this Sept. 12, 2012 file photo, items on the breakfast menu, including the calories, are posted at a McDonald's restaurant in New York. Wondering how many calories are in that hamburger? Chain restaurants still don't have to tell you, despite a six year-old law requiring calorie labels. The Food and Drug Administration said earlier this month that it will delay menu labeling rules, again, until next year. Pushback from supermarkets and convenience stores that will be required to put calorie labels on take-out foods have slowed the process. AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File
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WASHINGTON—Wondering how many calories are in that hamburger? Chain restaurants still don’t have to tell you, despite a 6-year-old law requiring calorie labels on menus.

Passed as part of the health care overhaul in 2010, the rules will eventually require restaurants and other establishments that sell prepared foods and have 20 or more locations to post the calorie content of food “clearly and conspicuously” on their menus, menu boards and displays.

This month, the Food and Drug Administration said it will delay the rules — again — until 2017.

The years of delays have come as supermarkets, convenience stores and other retailers that are covered by the rules but never wanted to be part of the law have fiercely lobbied against them. The move will leave the final step to a new president, despite the Obama administration’s staunch support of menu labeling and other food policy to help Americans eat more healthfully. And it will give opponents more time to gather support for legislation that would roll back some of the requirements.

Restaurants and other retailers originally had until the end of 2015 to comply. Last summer, the FDA pushed that deadline back to the end of 2016. This month, they pushed the deadline back again.

A Mcdonalds tray showing nutrition information. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
A Mcdonalds tray showing nutrition information. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images