New bill could weaken law that requires calorie counts on restaurant menus

WASHINGTON — It's been seven years since Congress passed a law requiring calorie counts at chain restaurants.

But that rule still isn't in place.

Channel 2’s Justin Gray was there Thursday as a new bill that would weaken some of those provisions took a critical step forward in congress.

Gray said the bill doesn’t do away with calorie count requirements but critics say it would make calorie count information more confusing for consumers.

A calorie count on the menu for every item has already become routine at many big chains like Starbucks.

Even some supermarkets are already doing it at their salad bars.

By law, all chain restaurants will eventually be required to post calories. But in May, the Trump administration delayed that law just days before it was set to take effect.

Thursday, a congressional committee passed a bill introduced by Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Washington, that would change those menu label rules.

“The goal is to provide some flexibility to the current rules, that for many food establishments were just impossible to implement,” McMorris told Gray.

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But critics say the changes in McMorris' bill would make menu labels more confusing for consumers.

“It would let companies make up their own serving sizes, arbitrary serving sizes,” said Lindsay Moyer with the Center for Science in the Public Interest. “You could list the calories for half a muffin or a third of a plate of pasta. That doesn’t tell you what you're getting.”

The House passed a similar bill last year, but it didn’t become law because the Senate didn't approve it.

As for the current menu label requirements, those are now on hold for a year.

Regardless of what happens in Congress, the Trump administration is working to rewrite them to “reduce the regulatory burden.”

Pizza chains like Domino's have been some of the biggest critics of menu label rules. The bill that passed Thursday would exempt them from many of the requirements.

Cox Media Group