Wednesday, March 23, is the federal deadline for the Food and Drug Administration to release rules on how the vending industry will be expected to disclose the calorie counts of food and beverages sold in vending machines, according to the National Automatic Merchandising Association. While the rules are required to be released by March 23, no final rules or enforcement will occur this year.
March 23, 2011 is the one-year anniversary of the passage of federal health care reform. Included in this legislation is language that states, "in the case of an article of food sold from a vending machine that does not permit a prospective purchaser to examine the Nutrition Facts Panel before purchasing the article or does not otherwise provide visible nutrition information at the point of purchase, and is operated by a person who is engaged in the business of owning or operating 20 or more vending machines, the vending machine operator shall provide a sign in close proximity to each article of food or the selection button that includes a clear and conspicuous statement disclosing the number of calories contained in the article."
For additional information, contact Ned Monroe at [email protected].
