WASHINGTON — Beginning next year, chain restaurants with at least 20 locations will be required to include nutrition information, such as caloric content, on menus, menu-boards and drive-through boards, due to a provision of the health care reform bill signed into law by President Obama on Tuesday.
In May 2008, after an 18-month court fight with its state restaurant association, New York City began enforcing a similar, municipal-level regulation. Since then, jurisdictions including the state of California, Philadelphia, Seattle and Portland, Ore., have also passed nutrition-labeling laws for chain restaurants, and more than a dozen other states have been debating similar laws.
Preferring a single, national standard to the patchwork of regulations beginning to emerge throughout the country, several foodservice industry groups, including the National Restaurant Association, have declared support for the provision included in this legislation.
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