NY to Rewrite Calorie-Posting Rule
New York’s health department will go back to the drawing board to craft a regulation able to withstand judicial scrutiny that will require restaurants to post calorie counts.
At the same time the city is considering an appeal of a federal judge’s ruling on Tuesday that the regulation conflicted with the federal statutory scheme for voluntary nutritional claims, the New York Times reports.
U.S. District Judge Richard Holwell said the regulation was improper because it applied only to restaurants that had voluntarily disclosed calorie information, ABAJournal.com noted in an earlier post. He suggested the city could require the information to be posted if it first required restaurants to disclose it.
Only about 10 percent of New York’s restaurants were subject to the original rule. Many more may be snagged under a revamped regulation.
“Anyone who thinks we’re going to walk away from trying to tell the public what they’re eating and what it’s doing to them doesn’t understand the obligation this city’s health department has,” said Mayor Michael Bloomberg. “We have to tell people how to lead better lives.”
