Pizza companies push back on menu labeling rules
The U.S. House Energy & Commerce Committee votes Tuesday on legislation aimed at curbing menu labeling rules.
Starting December 1, 2016, the Food and Drug Administration will require chain restaurants and movie theaters to post calorie counts on their menus.
Big pizza companies like Domino’s are among the businesses looking to scale back the mandate through legislation called the “Common Sense Nutrition Disclosure Act of 2015.”
Domino’s said at its restaurants, there are 34 million ways to put a pizza together with different crusts, sauces and toppings, so posting calories or even calorie ranges on a menu board doesn’t make sense.
“A whole pizza for example can vary in calories by 3,000 calories. And so that doesn’t really help you,” said Lynn Liddle, executive vice president at Domino’s Pizza and chair of a group called the American Pizza Community.
Liddle said she supports proposed legislation that would make it acceptable to put calorie counts online only, as Domino’s does.
But some critics worry pizza purveyors could bury calorie information on their websites.
And Margo Wootan with the Center for Science in the Public Interest said people really need information about pizza, in particular, because Americans eat so much of it.
“The way that most chains make it, it’s got very salty white flour crust and sauce, and high saturated fat cheese. It’s loaded with fatty toppings,” she said.
Wootan said efforts to curb menu labeling rules translate to withholding information from consumers.
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