FDA Finalizes New Menu Label Rules

Twin Falls, Idaho ( KMVT-TV / KSVT-TV ) - Last week the U.S. Food and Drug Administration finalized new rules requiring calorie information to be listed on menus in chain restaurants.

If a food establishment is part of a chain of 20 or more locations, they are now required to provide customers with more nutritional information.

For the health conscious eater, or for those with diet restrictions, menus will now be providing them with more information.

New FDA requirements will affect chains like Denny’s, which has over 1,700 restaurants.

But the restaurant tells us, when it comes to nutritional information, they are ahead of the curve.

They offer a supplemental menu to patrons who want to know more about what's in their meal.

Denny’s manager Rjay Baliolla explained, "We've had it for quite a while now. We have the nutrition one and an allergen one. We have a menu that says the carbs and the calories and the total fat and the other menu shows if its soy, gluten free, and other allergens."

Kimberly resident Clair Vette likes the new rules and explained, "It makes me feel really good because people should pay attention to what they eat and it's a good thing that fast food restaurants are doing this too. Low calories, low carbs, and no aspartame please."

But that isn't the only thing the restaurant does for customers.

Baliolla noted, "If you go on Denny's online there's a calculator in there so if you got a pizza and a soda or something it shows you the whole calculation of calories."

Restaurants have one year to comply with the labeling requirements.

The new rules also requires that vending machine operators who own 20 or more vending machines display calorie information.

Vending machine operators will have two years to comply with the rule.