Prompted by the Affordable Care Act of 2010, calorie counts will soon be posted on chain restaurant menus and foods sold in vending machines. While these changes don’t directly impact dairy products, processors that sell products to foodservice or vending customers should be aware of and be prepared for the new requirements.
The National Restaurant Association advocated for establishing uniform requirements in the health care bill instead of having a patchwork of different state and local government laws that affect more than 200,000 restaurant locations nationwide. To help consumers make informed decisions about meals and snacks, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently finalized two rules with the details of how calorie information will be listed on menus and menu boards in chain restaurants (and similar retail food establishments) and vending machines