I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2017 

To amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to improve and clarify 

certain disclosure requirements for restaurants and similar retail food 

establishments, and to amend the authority to bring proceedings under 

section 403A. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 23, 2015 

Mrs. MCMORRIS RODGERS (for herself and Ms. LORETTA SANCHEZ of California) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to 

improve and clarify certain disclosure requirements for 

restaurants and similar retail food establishments, and 

to amend the authority to bring proceedings under section 403A. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Common Sense Nutri5 tion Disclosure Act of 2015’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. AMENDING CERTAIN DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENTS 

2 FOR RESTAURANTS AND SIMILAR RETAIL 

3 FOOD ESTABLISHMENTS. 

4 Section 403(q)(5)(H) of the Federal Food, Drug, and 

5 Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 343(q)(5)(H)) is amended— 

6 (1) in subclause (ii)— 

7 (A) in item (I)(aa), by striking ‘‘the num8 ber of calories contained in the standard menu 

9 item, as usually prepared and offered for sale’’ 

10 and inserting ‘‘the number of calories contained 

11 in the whole standard menu item, or the num12 ber of servings and number of calories per serv13 ing, or the number of calories per the common 

14 unit division of the standard menu item, such 

15 as for a multiserving item that is typically di16 vided before presentation to the consumer’’; 

17 (B) in item (II)(aa), by striking ‘‘the num18 ber of calories contained in the standard menu 

19 item, as usually prepared and offered for sale’’ 

20 and inserting ‘‘the number of calories contained 

21 in the whole standard menu item, or the num22 ber of servings and number of calories per serv23 ing, or the number of calories per the common 

24 unit division of the standard menu item, such 

25 as for a multiserving item that is typically di26 vided before presentation to the consumer’’; and 


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1 (C) by adding at the end the following 

2 flush text: 

3 ‘‘In the case of restaurants or similar retail food es4 tablishments where the majority of orders are placed 

5 by customers who are off-premises at the time such 

6 order is placed, the information required to be dis7 closed under items (I) through (IV) may be provided 

8 by a remote-access menu (such as a menu available 

9 on the Internet) as the sole method of disclosure in10 stead of on-premises writings.’’; 

11 (2) in subclause (iii)— 

12 (A) by inserting ‘‘either’’ after ‘‘a res13 taurant or similar retail food establishment 

14 shall’’; and 

15 (B) by inserting ‘‘or comply with subclause 

16 (ii)’’ after ‘‘per serving’’; 

17 (3) in subclause (iv)— 

18 (A) by striking ‘‘For the purposes of this 

19 clause’’ and inserting the following: 

20 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—For the purposes of 

21 this clause,’’; 

22 (B) by striking ‘‘and other reasonable 

23 means’’ and inserting ‘‘or other reasonable 

24 means’’; and 

25 (C) by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(II) REASONABLE BASIS DEFINED.—For 

2 the purposes of this subclause, with respect to 

3 a nutrient disclosure, the term ‘reasonable 

4 basis’ means that the nutrient disclosure is 

5 within acceptable allowances for variation in 

6 nutrient content. Such acceptable allowances 

7 shall include allowances for variation in serving 

8 size, inadvertent human error in formulation or 

9 preparation of menu items, and variations in in10 gredients.’’; 

11 (4) by amending subclause (v) to read as fol12 lows: 

13 ‘‘(v) MENU VARIABILITY AND COMBINATION

14 MEALS.—The Secretary shall establish by regulation 

15 standards for determining and disclosing the nutri16 ent content for standard menu items that come in 

17 different flavors, varieties, or combinations, but 

18 which are listed as a single menu item, such as soft 

19 drinks, ice cream, pizza, doughnuts, or children’s 

20 combination meals. Such standards shall allow a res21 taurant or similar retail food establishment to 

22 choose whether to determine and disclose such con23 tent for the whole standard menu item, for a serving 

24 or common unit division thereof, or for a serving or 

25 common unit division thereof accompanied by the 


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1 number of servings or common unit divisions in the 

2 whole standard menu item. Such standards shall 

3 allow a restaurant or similar retail food establish4 ment to determine and disclose such content by 

5 using any of the following methods: ranges, aver6 ages, individual labeling of flavors or components, or 

7 labeling of one preset standard build. In addition to 

8 such methods, the Secretary may allow the use of 

9 other methods, to be determined by the Secretary, 

10 for which there is a reasonable basis (as such term 

11 is defined in subclause (iv)(II)).’’; 

12 (5) in subclause (x)— 

13 (A) by striking ‘‘Not later than 1 year 

14 after the date of enactment of this clause, the 

15 Secretary shall promulgate proposed regulations 

16 to carry out this clause.’’ and inserting ‘‘Not 

17 later than 1 year after the date of enactment of 

18 the Common Sense Nutrition Disclosure Act of 

19 2015, the Secretary shall issue proposed regula20 tions to carry out this clause, as amended by 

21 such Act. Any final regulations that are pro22 mulgated pursuant to the Common Sense Nu23 trition Disclosure Act of 2015, and any final 

24 regulations that were promulgated pursuant to 

25 this clause before the date of enactment of the 


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1 Common Sense Nutrition Disclosure Act of 

2 2015, shall not take effect earlier than 2 years 

3 after the promulgation of final regulations pur4 suant to the Common Sense Nutrition Disclo5 sure Act of 2015.’’; and 

6 (B) by adding at the end the following: 

7 ‘‘(IV) CERTIFICATIONS.—Res8 taurants and similar retail food estab9 lishments shall not be required to pro10 vide certifications or similar signed 

11 statements relating to compliance with 

12 the requirements of this clause.’’; 

13 (6) by amending subclause (xi) to read as fol14 lows: 

15 ‘‘(xi) DEFINITIONS.—In this clause: 

16 ‘‘(I) MENU; MENU BOARD.—The term 

17 ‘menu’ or ‘menu board’ means the one listing of 

18 items which the restaurant or similar retail food 

19 establishment reasonably believes to be, and 

20 designates as, the primary listing from which 

21 customers make a selection in placing an order. 

22 The ability to order from an advertisement, 

23 coupon, flyer, window display, packaging, social 

24 media, or other similar writing does not make 

25 the writing a menu or menu board. 


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1 ‘‘(II) PRESET STANDARD BUILD.—The 

2 term ‘preset standard build’ means the finished 

3 version of a menu item most commonly ordered 

4 by consumers. 

5 ‘‘(III) RESTAURANT OR SIMILAR RETAIL

6 FOOD ESTABLISHMENT.—The term ‘restaurant 

7 or similar retail food establishment’ means a re8 tail food establishment that derives more than 

9 50 percent of its total revenue from the sale of 

10 food of the type described in subclause (i) or 

11 (ii) of clause (A). For purposes of this defini12 tion, the sale of motor fuel shall not count to13 ward an establishment’s total revenue. 

14 ‘‘(IV) STANDARD MENU ITEM.—The term 

15 ‘standard menu item’ means a food item of the 

16 type described in subclause (i) or (ii) of sub17 paragraph (5)(A) with the same recipe prepared 

18 in substantially the same way with substantially 

19 the same food components that— 

20 ‘‘(aa) is routinely included on a menu 

21 or menu board or routinely offered as a 

22 self-service food or food on display at 20 or 

23 more locations doing business under the 

24 same name; and 


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1 ‘‘(bb) is not a food referenced in item 

2 (vii).’’; and 

3 (7) by adding at the end the following: 

4 ‘‘(xii) COMPLIANCE.—Any establishment that 

5 the Secretary determines is in violation of this clause 

6 shall have 90 days after receiving notification of the 

7 violation to correct the violation. The Secretary shall 

8 take no enforcement action, including the issuance 

9 of any public letter, for violations that are corrected 

10 within such 90-day period.’’. 

11 SEC. 3. LIMITATION ON LIABILITY FOR DAMAGES ARISING 

12 FROM NONCOMPLIANCE WITH NUTRITION 

13 LABELING REQUIREMENTS. 

14 Section 403(q)(5)(H) of the Federal Food, Drug, and 

15 Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 343(q)(5)(H)), as amended by 

16 section 2, is further amended by adding at the end the 

17 following: 

18 ‘‘(xiii) LIMITATION ON LIABILITY.—A 

19 restaurant or similar retail food establish20 ment shall not be liable in any civil action 

21 in Federal or State court (other than an 

22 action brought by the United States or a 

23 State) for any claims arising out of an al24 leged violation of— 

25 ‘‘(I) this clause; or 


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1 ‘‘(II) any State law permitted 

2 under section 403A(a)(4).’’. 

Æ 


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