SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A bill requiring nutritional disclosure of menu items at chain restaurants was approved yesterday by the California Assembly. It now will now go to the State Senate.
Assembly Bill 2572 applies to every covered food facility with at least 20 other food facilities in the state with the same trade name. The bill requires them to disclose certain nutritional information for each standard food item, including calories; amount of fat, saturated fat, trans fat; carbohydrates; and total sodium.
The facility could disclose the information in a number of ways, including menus or "other writing" at the point of sale, standard food-item packaging, counter or table tents, tray liners, posters, brochures and electronic kiosks.
The bill's passage was applauded by the California Restaurant Association, which said the measure provides a responsible approach to the issue of mandated nutritional-information disclosure at chain restaurants.
"We look forward to working with the State Senate to improve upon this important legislation," said Jot Condie, president of the California Restaurant Association. "Chain restaurant owners that operate in different jurisdictions should not have to fear a patchwork of local regulations. If this legislation is going to cover chain restaurants throughout the state, we believe the provisions of this mandate should be uniform throughout the state."
