FDA wants menu labeling requirement postponed

If you were looking forward to counting calories by looking at restaurant menus, you're may have to wait.

The Food and Drug Administration is trying to get the menu labeling rule, which is set to take effect next Friday, delayed.

The law requires restaurants in a chain with 20 or more locations to prominently display calorie counts for standard menu items. Also included are supermarkets that sell food, like made-to-order sandwiches, bakeries, coffee and ice cream shops, movie theater and amusement park concession stands and some vending machines. They also have to have nutrition information for customers who want to see it, such as total fat, cholesterol, sodium, total carbohydrates, fiber, sugars and protein.

The FDA declined to comment on what motivated them to ask for an extension of the compliance date -- or what new date they want instead.

Menu labeling was provision of Obamacare -- the 2010 Affordable Care Act. It's the third time there's been a delay. Deadlines in 2015 and 2016 were pushed off, too.

Many chains have already posted the required information.

Earlier this month, the National Association of Convenience Stores and the National Grocers Association sent a letter to the FDA, saying that it's impossible for their members to comply with the rule and that the FDA dramatically underestimated compliance costs, especially for non-restaurant retailers. It also said the rule is a violation of the First Amendment and "inconsistent with the Administration’s agenda to alleviate unnecessary regulatory burdens on businesses."

Others want the law in place.

The National Restaurant Association doesn't want a delay, seeing the rule as a remedy to a hodgepodge of regional rules.

"Previously, menu labeling laws were being passed on a state-by-state or city-by-city basis and in some cases, counties were competing with cities to pass similar laws. If the federal standard is repealed, we will once again return to this patchwork approach that will be even more burdensome for restaurants to implement and will not have the legal safeguards included in the federal law," Cicely Simpson, executive vice president of government affairs and policy in a written statement.

The FDA filed submitted a request for regulatory review to the Office of Management and Budget in the White House.

Follow USA TODAY reporter Zlati Meyer on Twitter: @ZlatiMeyer