Leaders at the American Heart Association (AHA) recently stated that giving authority to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to guide menu labeling will give consumers more information about their food.
Now that the FDA has finalized its guidance requirements for menu labeling, all restaurants within the U.S. will have just one year to align their standards with the FDA requirements.
“When Americans decide to dine out, they need to know what’s in their food,” Nancy Brown, CEO of the AHA, said. “This final guidance will help them make healthy choices, and hopefully, satisfy the restaurant industry’s craving for how to best comply with the 2014 menu labeling requirements. We are pleased that this guidance has been released and that it starts the countdown clock for restaurants to comply within one year.”
As many people have different restrictions because of their health or other needs, it is important for them to be able to know what they’re eating at all times.
“Americans spend nearly half of their food budget on eating out,” Brown said. “Menu labels don’t just advise us of the number of calories in our food, it can also help establish smarter eating habits overall. Providing the calorie count and nutritional content enables consumers to do easy side-by-side comparisons and make healthier food selections when they place their orders. Having this information readily available is critically important because healthy eating can prevent and reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease -- our nation’s number-one and most costly killer.”
All restaurants are encouraged to comply with the standards are soon as possible.
“We encourage any food establishment that hasn’t already completed the necessary work to fulfill these requirements to do so as quickly as possible, so that Americans are equipped to make the food choices that will help them build healthier lives free of heart disease and stroke,” Brown said.
