FDA Postpones Rules for Posting Calories on Menus [POLL]

UNDATED - You're going to have to wait another year if you want to see calories listed on the menu at most restaurant chains. That rule was supposed to go into effect Friday, but earlier this week the federal Food and Drug Administration decided to delay calorie labeling rules until May of 2018.

Julia Dayton Klein is an attorney at Gray Plant Mooty. She says, with the original deadline coming this week, a lot of restaurant chains were already ramping up for the change.

You can't get all of this together in a day or two.  You've got to be able to test your menu to see how many calories are in your food.  Then you have to work with your marketing department to get all the graphics right on the menu. Then you have to talk to lawyers like me to make sure it all complies.

Klein says many restaurants that have already changed their menus may choose to go ahead and roll them out in the coming weeks.

The federal law, if it's ever enacted, applies only to restaurants and other establishments that sell food that have 20 or more locations. She says some restaurant chains opposed the rule.

Pizza chains are having a particularly hard time with this because there's so many different varieties of pizza you can do, with all the different toppings.

Klein says grocery stores and convenience stores also didn't like the requirement.  She says some national chains like McDonald's and Subway already have the calories posted because they're in other states that require it, but that's not the case here in Minnesota.

It is part of the Affordable Care Act.