IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 

FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK 

NEW YORK STATE RESTAURANT 

ASSOCIATION, 

Plaintiff, 

v. Case No. 1:07-cv-05710 (RJH) 

NEW YORK CITY BOARD OF HEALTH, 

NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH 

AND MENTAL HYGIENE, and THOMAS R. 

FRIEDEN, in his official capacity as Commissioner 

of the New York City Department of Health 

and Mental Hygiene, 

Defendants. 

_________________________________________________________________________ 

BRIEF OF AMICI CURIAE U.S. REPRESENTATIVE HENRY WAXMAN, 

FORMER FDA COMMISSIONER DAVID KESSLER, 

PUBLIC CITIZEN, CENTER FOR SCIENCE IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST, 

AMERICAN COLLEGE OF PREVENTIVE MEDICINE, 

AMERICAN DIABETES ASSOCIATION, 

AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION, 

AMERICAN PUBLIC HEALTH ASSOCIATION, 

CALIFORNIA CENTER FOR PUBLIC HEALTH ADVOCACY, 

THE MEDICAL SOCIETY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, 

TRUST FOR AMERICA’S HEALTH, AND 

PROFESSORS OF MEDICINE, NUTRITION AND PUBLIC HEALTH 

IN SUPPORT OF DEFENDANTS 

_________________________________________________________________________ 

STEPHEN GARDNER (SG-3964) DEEPAK GUPTA

CENTER FOR SCIENCE BRIAN WOLFMAN

IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST ADINA H. ROSENBAUM

5646 Milton Street, Suite 211 PUBLIC CITIZEN 

Dallas, TX 75206 LITIGATION GROUP 

(214) 827-2774 1600 20th Street, NW 

 Washington, DC 20009 

(202) 588-1000 

 

KEVIN C. MALLON (KCM-4798)

 FISHMAN & NEIL, LLP 

305 Broadway, Suite 900 

New York, NY 10007 

(212) 897-5840 

 

July 16, 2007 Counsel for Amici Curiae

Case 1:07-cv-05710-RJH Document 26-2 Filed 07/16/2007 Page 1 of 61
i

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TABLE OF AUTHORITIES........................................................................................................ ii 

INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY OF ARGUMENT ..................................................... 1 

INTEREST OF AMICI CURIAE................................................................................................ 3 

STATEMENT.................................................................................................................................. 5 

I. THE BASIC STRUCTURE OF THE NLEA........................................................ 5 

A. The Distinction Between Nutrition Information Labeling and 

Unauthorized or Unsubstantiated Claims... ...................................................... 5 

B. The NLEA’s Exemption of Restaurant Foods from Federal 

Nutrition Labeling Requirements ....................................................................... 8 

C. The NLEA’s Preemption Provisions................................................................. 8 

ARGUMENT ................................................................................................................................. 10 

I. A STRONG PRESUMPTION AGAINST PREEMPTION 

APPLIES IN THIS CASE. ...................................................................................... 12 

II. THE NLEA LEAVES STATES FREE TO REQUIRE 

NUTRITION LABELING OF RESTAURANT FOOD.... ............................. 14 

III. NEW YORK’S CALORIE LABELING RULE HAS NOTHING 

 TO DO WITH “CLAIMS” THAT USE DESCRIPTIVE “TERMS” 

 TO “CHARACTERIZE” NUTRIENT LEVELS.. ............................................ 16 

IV. THE NLEA FORECLOSES IMPLIED PREEMPTION. ............................... 25 

V. THE RESTAURANT ASSOCIATION’S FIRST 

AMENDMENT THEORY STANDS THE COMMERCIAL 

SPEECH DOCTRINE ON ITS HEAD. ............................................................. 27 

CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................. 29 

APPENDIX LISTING AMICI CURIAE 

APPENDIX OF STATUTORY AND REGULATORY PROVISIONS 

APPENDIX OF FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION LETTERS 

Case 1:07-cv-05710-RJH Document 26-2 Filed 07/16/2007 Page 2 of 61
ii

TABLE OF AUTHORITIES 

Cases 

Ace Auto Body & Towing, LTD v. City of New York, 

171 F.3d 765 (2d Cir. 1999)............................................................................................. 14 

AT&T Communications of Illinois, Inc. v. Illinois Bell Telephone Co., 

349 F.3d 402 (7th Cir. 2003). ....................................................................................14, 26 

Bates v. Dow Agrosciences LLC,

544 U.S. 431 (2005) ....................................................................................................14, 16 

BellSouth Advertising & Publishing Corp. v. Tennessee,

79 S.W.3d 506 (Tenn. 2002)............................................................................................ 28 

Caliornia Coastal Commission v. Granite Rock Co.,

480 U.S. 572 (1987) .......................................................................................................... 18

Department of Taxation and Finance of New York v. Milhelm Attea & Bros., Inc., 

512 U.S. 61 (1994)............................................................................................................. 18 

Desiano v. Warner-Lambert & Co., 

467 F.3d 85 (2d Cir. 2007)............................................................................................... 13 

District of Columbia v. John R. Thompson Co., 

346 U.S. 100 (1953) .......................................................................................................... 13

Entertainment Software Association v. Blagovech, 

469 F.3d 641 (7th Cir. 2006) ........................................................................................... 28 

Environmental Defense Center, Inc. v. E.P.A., 

344 F.3d 832 (9th Cir. 2003) ........................................................................................... 28 

Freightliner Corp. v. Myrick, 

514 U.S. 280 (1995) .......................................................................................................... 26

Hillsborough County v. Automated Medical Labs., Inc., 

471 U.S. 707 (1985) ....................................................................................................13, 20 

Ibanez v. Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, 

471 U.S. 707 (1985) .......................................................................................................... 27

Johanns v. Livestock Marketing Association, 

544 U.S. 550 (2005) .......................................................................................................... 28

Jones v. Rath Packing Co., 

430 U.S. 519 (1977) .......................................................................................................... 12

Case 1:07-cv-05710-RJH Document 26-2 Filed 07/16/2007 Page 3 of 61
iii

Medtronic, Inc. v. Lohr, 

518 U.S. 470 (1996) ....................................................................................... 12, 13, 14, 16 

National Electrical Manufacturers Association v. Sorrell, 

272 F.3d 104 (2d Cir. 2001)............................................................................ 3, 27, 27, 29 

New State Ice Co. v. Liebmann, 

285 U.S. 262 (1932) .......................................................................................................... 12

Nutritional Council for Improved Health v. Shalala, 

122 F.3d 878 (10th Cir. 1997) ......................................................................................... 18 

Nutritional Health Alliance v. Shalala, 

144 F.3d 220 (2d Cir. 1998)............................................................................................. 18 

Pelman v. McDonald’s Corporation, 

237 F. Supp. 2d 512 (S.D.N.Y. 2003) ..................................................................2, 15, 26 

Pharmaceutical Research and Mfrs. of America v. Concannon, 

249 F.3d 66 (1st Cir. 2001) .............................................................................................. 18 

Pharmaceutical Research and Mfrs. of America v. Walsh, 

538 U.S. 644 (2003) .......................................................................................................... 18

Public Citizen v. Shalala, 

932 F. Supp. 13 (D.D.C. 1996) ......................................................................................... 9 

Puerto Rico Department of Consumer Affairs, 

485 U.S. 495 (1988) .......................................................................................................... 26

Rice v. Norman Williams Co., 

458 U.S. 654 (1982) .......................................................................................................... 18

Rogers v. Consolidated Rail Corp., 

948 F.2d 858 (2d Cir. 1991)............................................................................................. 12 

Rubin v. Coors Brewing Co., 

514 U.S. 476 (1995) .......................................................................................................... 27

Sprietsma v. Mercury Marine, 

537 U.S. 51 (2002)............................................................................................................. 26 

UAW-Labor Employment & Training Corp. v. Chao, 

325 F.3d 360 (D.C. Cir. 2003)......................................................................................... 28 

United States v. Lopez, 

514 U.S. 549 (1995) .......................................................................................................... 12

Case 1:07-cv-05710-RJH Document 26-2 Filed 07/16/2007 Page 4 of 61
iv

United States v. Salerno, 

481 U.S. 739 (1987) .......................................................................................................... 18

United States v. United Foods, Inc., 

481 U.S. 739 (1987) .......................................................................................................... 28

United States v. Wenger, 

292 F. Supp. 2d 1296 (D. Utah 2003)............................................................................ 28 

Virginia State Board of Pharmacy v. Virginia Citizens Consumer Council, 

425 U.S. 748 (1976) .......................................................................................................... 27

Statutes 

21 U.S.C. § 343(a) ............................................................................................................................ 6 

Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 1990, 

Pub. L. No. 101-535, 104 Stat. 2535............................................................... 3, 5, 11, 13 

21 U.S.C. § 343(q)....................................................................................................... passim

21 U.S.C. § 343(q)(1)(C).........................................................................................6, 14, 15

21 U.S.C. § 343(q)(1)(D) .................................................................................................... 6 

21 U.S.C. § 343(q)(5)(A)(i).............................................................................2, 6, 9, 14-15

21 U.S.C. § 343(r)........................................................................................................ passim

21 U.S.C. § 343(r)(1).....................................................................................................7, 20

21 U.S.C. § 343(r)(1)(A) .......................................................................................2, 6, 7, 23

21 U.S.C. § 343(r)(1)(B) ................................................................................................. 6, 8

21 U.S.C. § 343(r)(2)(A)(i)............................................................................................7, 20 

21 U.S.C. § 343(r)(4)......................................................................................................... 19 

21 U.S.C. § 343-1 .............................................................................................................. 25 

21 U.S.C. § 343-1, note ................................................................................... 3, 11, 14, 25 

21 U.S.C. § 343-1(a)(4)..........................................................................2, 11, 14, 15, 8, 24

21 U.S.C. § 343-1(a)(5)..............................................................................2, 16, 17, 19, 24 

Case 1:07-cv-05710-RJH Document 26-2 Filed 07/16/2007 Page 5 of 61
v

Regulations 

21 C.F.R. § 101.9 .............................................................................................................................. 6 

21 C.F.R. § 101.10 ......................................................................................................................9, 24 

21 C.F.R. § 101.13 .....................................................................................................7, 8, 20, 21, 25 

21 C.F.R. § 101.14 ......................................................................................................................8, 19 

21 C.F.R. § 101.60 ....................................................................................................................24, 25

21 C.F.R. § 101.54 ......................................................................................................................7, 21 

21 C.F.R. § 101.56 ............................................................................................................................ 7 

56 Fed. Reg. 60528-0 (Nov. 27, 1991)......................................................................................... 26

58 Fed. Reg. 2066 (Jan. 6, 1993)..................................................................................................... 9

58 Fed. Reg. 2302-01 (Jan. 6, 1993).........................................................................................7, 22 

58 Fed. Reg. 2462-01 (Jan. 6, 1993)............................................................................................. 26 

58 Fed. Reg. 33055 (June 15, 1993) ............................................................................................... 9 

61 Fed. Reg. 40320 (Aug. 2, 1996)................................................................................................. 9

24 R.C.N.Y. Health Code Reg. § 81.50.............................................................................1, 12, 17 

Legislative History 

H.R. Rep. No. 538, 101st Cong., 2d Sess. 7 (1990), 

reprinted in 1990 U.S.C.C.A.N. 3336..........................................................................5, 6, 7 

 

FDA’s Continuing Failure to Regulate Health Claims for Food: Hearings 

Before the Subcomm. on Human Resources and Intergovernmental 

Relations of the House Comm. on Gov’t Relations, 

101st Cong., 2d Sess. (1989).............................................................................................. 6 

1990 U.S.C.C.A.N. 3354-1 .............................................................................................................. 5 

136 Cong. Rec. H12953 (Oct. 26, 1990) ...............................................................................10, 23 

Case 1:07-cv-05710-RJH Document 26-2 Filed 07/16/2007 Page 6 of 61
vi

136 Cong. Rec. S16607-02 (Oct. 24, 1990)..........................................................2, 10, 11, 15, 23 

136 Cong. Rec. H5836-01 (July 30, 1990)...........................................................................7, 9, 23 

Miscellaneous 

American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th ed. (2006)................................................. 

Michelle M. Bradley, 

The States’ Role in Regulating Food Labeling and Advertising: The Effect of 

the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 1990, 

49 Food & Drug L.J. 649 (1994) .................................................................................... 10 

Dan Burk, 

The Milk-Free Zone, Federal and Local Interests in Regulating Recombinant BST, 

22 Colum. J. Envt’l L. 227 (1997)................................................................................... 26 

Richard M. Cooper, Richard L. Frank & Michael J. O’Flaherty, 

History of Health Claims Regulation. 

45 Food Drug Cosm. L.J. 655 (1990) .............................................................................. 6 

Betsy J. Grey, 

Make Congress Speak Clearly: Federal Preemption of State Tort Remedies, 

77 B.U. L. Rev. 559 (1997) .............................................................................................. 12 

Elizabeth Toni Guarino, 

Nutrient Descriptor and Disease Claims for Foods Under the New 

FDA and USDA Rules,

48 Food & Drug L.J. 665 (1993) .................................................................................... 22 

S. Candice Hoke, 

Preemption Pathologies and Civic Republican Values,

71 B.U. L. Rev. 685 (1991) .............................................................................................. 12 

Roderick M. Hills, 

Against Preemption: How Federalism Can Improve the 

National Legislative Process, 82 N.Y.U. L. Rev. 1 (2007)................................................. 13 

Peter Barton Hutt, 

A Brief History of FDA Regulation Relating to the Nutrient Content of Food, 

in R. Shapiro, ed., Nutrition Labeling Handbook (1995) ................................................... 6 

Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences, 

Food Labeling: Toward National Uniformity (1992)............................................................ 26

Craig Jordan, 

Preemption and Uniform Enforcement of Food Marketing Regulations, 

Case 1:07-cv-05710-RJH Document 26-2 Filed 07/16/2007 Page 7 of 61
vii

49 Food & Drug L.J. 401 (1994) ..............................................................................10, 21 

 

Keystone Forum, 

The Keystone Forum on Away-from-Home Foods: 

Opportunities for Preventing Weight Gain and Obesity (2006), 

available at http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/nutrcal.html..............................1, 16, 26 

 Michael A. McCann, 

Economic Efficiency and Consumer Choice Theory in Nutritional Labeling, 

2004 Wis. L. Rev. 1161 (2004)........................................................................................ 26 

 

 Laura S. Sims, 

The Politics of Fat: Food and Nutrition Policy in America (1988)............................ 7, 8-9, 10 

U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 

A Guide for Restaurants and Other Retail Establishments, 

available at http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~frf/qatext2.html ......................................2, 15 

U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 

Calories Count: Report of the Working Group on Obesity (2004), 

available at http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/owg-toc.html............................9, 16, 26 

U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 

Claims that Can Be Made for Conventional Foods and Dietary Supplements (2003), 

available at http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/hclaims.html...................................8, 22 

U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 

Definitions of Nutrient Content Claims, Food Labeling Guide—Appendix A, 

http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/flg-6a.html............................................................. 20 

U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 

Label Claims: Nutrient Content Claims, 

http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/lab-nutr.html.l....................................................... 20 

U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 

FDA Backgrounder: Keystone Forum on Away-From-Home Foods, 

Preventing Weight Gain and Obesity Report (2006), 

available at http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~lrd/bgowg2.html........................................... 1 

U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 

FDA Talk Paper T96-52 (July 30, 1996), available at 

http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~lrd/tpmenus.html ............................................................ 9 

Webster’s Third New International Dictionary (1965)..................................................................18, 20 

Case 1:07-cv-05710-RJH Document 26-2 Filed 07/16/2007 Page 8 of 61
1

INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY OF ARGUMENT 

In adopting Health Code Regulation 81.50, which requires fast-food restaurants to post calorie information on their menus, New York City stepped into a regulatory gap that Congress 

intentionally left open to state and local governments when it enacted the Nutrition Labeling and 

Education Act (NLEA) in 1990. 

Last year, a report commissioned by the FDA declared that “obesity has become a public 

health crisis of epidemic proportions.” The Keystone Forum on Away-from-Home Foods: Opportunities for 

Preventing Weight Gain and Obesity (2006), at 1.1

 Echoing the consensus view of the U.S. Surgeon 

General, the National Academies’ Institute of Medicine, and the American Medical Association, 

among others, the report concluded that “restaurants should provide consumers with calorie 

information in a standard format that is easily accessible and easy to use,” allowing consumers to 

view the information “when standing at a counter, while reviewing a menu board, in a car when 

reading a drive-through menu, or when sitting down at a table reviewing a menu.” Id. at 76, 77-78. 

The report acknowledged that “the FDA does not have regulatory authority to require nutrition information in restaurants,” but that “state legislatures do have the authority to require the provision of 

nutrition information, and a number of these elected bodies have considered nutrition labeling bills 

[that] would require calories and/or other nutrition information to be listed on menus or menu 

boards.” Id. at 74 (emphasis added).

In this lawsuit, the New York State Restaurant Association (NYSRA) asks the Court to hold 

that federal law preempts states and local authorities from doing what the federal government itself 

lacks authority to do—that Congress created a permanent regulatory vacuum. Congress did no such 

thing. To the contrary, Congress focused closely on the issues of preemption and coverage for 

 1 available at http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/nutrcal.html (“Keystone Report”); see also FDA 

Backgrounder, http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~lrd/bgowg2.html. 

Case 1:07-cv-05710-RJH Document 26-2 Filed 07/16/2007 Page 9 of 61
2

restaurants during its consideration of the NLEA and enacted carefully limited express preemption 

provisions that carved out room for state and local government to fill the gaps left by the statute. 21 

U.S.C. § 343-1(a)(4); id. § 343(q)(5)(A)(i). As the legislation’s chief sponsor in the Senate explained 

just moments before the final vote: “Because food sold in restaurants is exempt from the nutrition 

labeling requirements of [the NLEA], the bill does not preempt any State nutrition labeling requirements for restaurants.” 136 Cong. Rec. S16607-02, S16608 (Oct. 24, 1990) (Sen. Metzenbaum). The 

FDA takes the same view. See FDA, A Guide for Restaurants and Other Retail Establishments, available at 

http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~frf/qatext2.html (“[B]ecause the act exempts restaurant foods that do 

not bear a claim from mandatory nutrition labeling, State requirements for the nutrition labeling of 

such foods would not be preempted.”). And although one would never know it from NYSRA’s 

brief, this Court itself has held that state law requiring nutrition labeling of restaurant foods “is 

explicitly not pre-empted by the NLEA.” Pelman v. McDonald’s Corp., 237 F. Supp. 2d 512, 526 

(S.D.N.Y 2003). 

NYSRA, however, contends that New York’s rule is preempted because it is a requirement 

respecting “claims” of the type regulated by a different section of the NLEA. See 21 U.S.C. § 343-

1(a)(5); id. § 343(r)(1)(A). That contention rests on a fundamental misunderstanding of the statutory 

scheme. The structure of the NLEA is premised on a distinction between requirements concerning 

straightforward nutritional information (such as a listing of a total number of calories), on the one 

hand, and requirements concerning descriptive “claims” that industry may choose to make about its 

food’s nutritional content or health effects, on the other hand. The New York City rule is the 

former sort of rule: It is concerned only with purely factual information, not with descriptive 

“terms” that restaurants may use to make “claims” that “characterize” the nutrients in their food. 

That conclusion is supported by the Act’s text and legislative history, by authoritative FDA 

interpretations, and by the statute as a whole. A contrary conclusion would lead to absurd results 

Case 1:07-cv-05710-RJH Document 26-2 Filed 07/16/2007 Page 10 of 61
3

and eviscerate the exception that Congress created for state regulation of restaurant nutrition 

labeling.

Hedging its bets, NYSRA argues that, even in the absence of express preemption, the New 

York rule is impliedly preempted by the NLEA, but that argument cannot be reconciled with 

Congress’s command that the NLEA “shall not be construed to preempt any provision of State law, 

unless such provision is expressly preempted” by the statute. Pub. L. No. 101-535, § 6(c), 104 Stat. 

2535, 2364 (21 U.S.C. § 343-1 note). NYSRA also contends that the rule violates the First Amendment, but its position is incompatible with settled law and would turn the commercial speech 

doctrine upside down. See Nat’l Elec. Mfrs. Ass’n v. Sorrell, 272 F.3d 104, 113-16 (2d Cir. 2001). 

INTEREST OF AMICI CURIAE 2

 Amici are current and former public officials; consumer, medical, and public health organizations; and professors of medicine, nutrition, and public health, all of whom support New York 

City’s Regulation 81.50. Amici include U.S. Representative Henry Waxman, who was the chief 

sponsor of the NLEA in Congress, and David Kessler, who served as the Commissioner of the 

U.S. Food and Drug Administration from 1990 to 1997, the period during which the key regulations 

implementing the NLEA were promulgated. Public Citizen is a non-profit advocacy organization 

with a longstanding interest in fighting exaggerated claims of federal preemption of state health and 

safety regulation and Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) is a leading non-profit 

advocacy organization for nutrition and health, food safety, and sound science. CSPI was instrumental in getting Congress to consider nutrition labeling legislation in 1989 and in securing passage 

of the NLEA in 1990. CSPI also led the advocacy efforts on behalf of New York City’s restaurant 

calorie labeling rule last year, and is working with other cities and states across the nation on similar 

measures. 

 2 The identities and interest of amici are described more fully in an appendix to this brief. 

Case 1:07-cv-05710-RJH Document 26-2 Filed 07/16/2007 Page 11 of 61
4

The brief is also joined by the nation’s leading medical and public health organizations. The 

American Medical Association is the largest professional association of physicians and medical 

students in the United States. In June 2007, the AMA specifically resolved that calorie content, in 

addition to other nutrition information, be displayed on menus and menu boards in fast-food and 

other chain restaurants. The AMA is joined by the American College of Preventive Medicine, 

which sponsored the resolution passed by the AMA’s House of Delegates last month, and The 

Medical Society of the State of New York. The American Diabetes Association is a nationwide non-profit organization founded in 1940 to advance the interests of the now nearly 21 million 

Americans with diabetes. The American Public Health Association is the oldest, largest and 

most diverse organization of public health professionals in the world and has been working to 

improve public health since 1872. The California Center for Public Health Advocacy is a nonprofit organization established in 1999 by California’s two public health associations to raise 

awareness about critical public health issues and is currently the lead supporter of a bill before the 

California State Legislature to require nutrition labeling on menus and menu boards in chain 

restaurants. The Trust for America’s Health is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated 

to saving lives by protecting the health of every community and working to make disease prevention 

a national priority. 

Finally, amici include the following distinguished professors of medicine, nutrition, and public health: George L. Blackburn, Harvard Medical School; Richard J. Decklebaum, Columbia 

University; Penny Kris-Etherton, Pennsylvania State University; Francine R. Kaufman, University of Southern California Medical School; Alice H. Lichtenstein, Friedman School of Nutrition 

Science and Policy at Tufts University; Marion Nestle, New York University; Barry M. Popkin, 

University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; and Walter Willett, Harvard School of Public Health and 

Harvard Medical School. 

Case 1:07-cv-05710-RJH Document 26-2 Filed 07/16/2007 Page 12 of 61
5

STATEMENT 

I. THE BASIC STRUCTURE OF THE NLEA 

The Nutrition Labeling and Education Act, Pub. L. No. 101-535, 104 Stat. 2535 (1990), produced groundbreaking changes in the way food is labeled in the United States, including requiring 

that nutrition labeling be placed on most packaged food, prohibiting the use of terms that characterize the level of nutrients in a food unless they conform to definitions established by FDA, and 

ensuring that claims about the relationship between nutrients and health conditions are supported by 

significant scientific agreement. The NLEA was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by 

Representative Henry Waxman on July 27, 1989, and signed into law by President George H.W. 

Bush on November 8, 1990. See 1990 U.S.C.C.A.N. 3354-1 (Nov. 8 1990) (Presidential signing 

statement). Although Congress extensively debated a number of issues—including preemption of 

state law and coverage for restaurants—the basic purpose and structure of the legislation remained 

the same over the course of the fifteen months during which it was considered. 

A. The Distinction Between Nutrition Information Labeling 

and Unauthorized or Unsubstantiated Claims

Congress enacted the NLEA to serve two distinct but complementary purposes—first, “to 

clarify and to strengthen the Food and Drug Administration’s legal authority to require nutrition 

labeling on foods,” and second, “to establish the circumstances under which claims may be made 

about nutrients in foods.” H.R. Rep. No. 538, 101st Cong., 2d Sess. 7 (1990), reprinted in 1990 

U.S.C.C.A.N. 3336, 3337 (“House Report”). To carry out these twin purposes, the NLEA added two 

subsections to the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act—section 343(q), which mandates specific, 

uniform disclosures that must be made on food labels, and section 343(r), which regulates the 

descriptive claims that manufacturers may choose to make about their foods. 21 U.S.C. §§ 343(q), 

343(r). The first part of the Act sets forth general nutrition labeling requirements for the disclosure 

of factual nutritional information. The second part creates a framework for regulation by the FDA 

Case 1:07-cv-05710-RJH Document 26-2 Filed 07/16/2007 Page 13 of 61
6

concerning when and how food purveyors may make claims using terms that characterize the 

nutrient levels or health-related effects of their food. Put another way, the first section (§ 343(q)) 

tells food manufacturers or vendors what facts they must disclose about their food, while the second 

section (§ 343(r)) regulates the descriptive claims they may choose to make about their food. 

1. Section 343(q): Mandatory Nutrition Labeling. The nutrition information labeling provisions of section 343(q) are the heart of the Act. Most American consumers are familiar 

with the “Nutrition Facts” panel, a uniform graphical chart that most food manufacturers must use 

to list “the total number of calories” in each serving of food, § 343(q)(1)(C), as well as the amounts 

of total fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium, total carbohydrate, dietary fiber, sugars, and protein in 

the food, both as an “amount per serving” and, with the exception of sugars and protein, as a 

percent of a dietary reference value, called the “percent daily value.” § 343(q)(1)(D); see 21 C.F.R. § 

101.9. As discussed below, restaurant food is not covered by these federal requirements. 21 U.S.C. 

§ 343(q)(5)(A)(i). 

2. Section 343(r): Claims. In addition to requiring the disclosure of nutrition information, Congress also responded to the proliferation of dubious, misleading, and confusing claims 

made by food manufacturers about the nutrition and health effects of their foods. House Report at 

3337.3

 That issue is taken up in the second part of the statute, section 343(r), which distinguishes 

between two kinds of claims: nutrient content claims (e.g. “low salt”) and health-related claims (e.g.

“fiber reduces the risk of cancer”). §§ 343(r)(1)(A), 343(r)(1)(B). 

Prior to the NLEA’s enactment, the FDA had general authority to prohibit false or misleading food advertising or labeling. § 343(a). Nevertheless, “an increasing number of food companies 

 3 See generally Hutt, A Brief History of FDA Regulation Relating to the Nutrient Content of Food, in R. 

Shapiro, ed., Nutrition Labeling Handbook 1-27 (1995); Cooper, et al., History of Health Claims Regulation, 

45 Food Drug Cosm. L.J. 655, 657 (1990); FDA’s Continuing Failure to Regulate Health Claims for Food: 

Hearings Before the Subcomm. on Human Resources and Intergovernmental Relations of the House Comm. on Gov’t 

Relations, 101st Cong., 2d Sess. (1989). 

Case 1:07-cv-05710-RJH Document 26-2 Filed 07/16/2007 Page 14 of 61
7

had turned to marketing . . . products bearing adjectival descriptors such as ‘lite,’ ‘low,’ ‘reduced,’ or 

‘fat free’ because of their perception that such descriptors would lure consumers who thought such 

terms meant the products were more healthful.” Sims, The Politics of Fat: Food and Nutrition Policy in 

America 202 (1998). In the absence of specific federal standards, these claims were often meaningless or misleading. Id. Congress aimed to address this problem by ensuring that such “content 

claims (such as ‘low salt’ or ‘light’) would have to be consistent with terms defined by the [FDA].” 

House Report at 3337. 

Section 343(r) prohibits any “claim” on a food label that expressly or by implication “characterizes” the nutrient level of a food unless “the characterization of the level made in the claim uses 

terms which are defined in regulations of the [FDA].” § 343(r)(1)(A); § 343(r)(2)(A)(i). “An 

example of an express claim covered by [§ 343(r)] would be the statement ‘low sodium.’ An 

example of an implied claim covered by this section would be the statement ‘lite,’ which implies that 

the product is low in some nutrient (typically calories or fat), but does not say so expressly, or ‘high 

oat bran,’ which conveys an implied high fiber message.” House Report at 3349 (section-by-section 

analysis). The FDA’s regulations define nutrient content claims for terms including free, low, high, 

good source, contains, provides, reduced, less, light or lite, modified, and more. 21 C.F.R. §§ 101.13, 101.54, 

101.56.4

 4 Section 343(r)(1) provides that “[a] statement of the type required by paragraph (q) . . . that 

appears as part of the nutrition information required or permitted by such paragraph is not a claim 

which is subject to this paragraph.” § 343(r)(1). The intent of this sentence was “to make it clear 

that the information on the nutrition label is not a claim under that provision and therefore is not 

subject to the disclosure requirements in section 403(r)(2),” although similar statements made 

outside the nutrition label could be subject to section 343(r) if they otherwise meet the definition of 

a “claim.” 136 Cong. Rec. H5836-01, H5841 (July 30, 1990) (Rep. Waxman); see also 58 Fed. Reg. 

2302, 2303-04 (Jan. 6, 1993); 21 C.F.R. § 101.13(c). Thus, statements relating to the amount of 

nutrients in a food can constitute “nutrient content claims” if they implicitly or explicitly “characterize” the amount of the nutrient.

Case 1:07-cv-05710-RJH Document 26-2 Filed 07/16/2007 Page 15 of 61
8

FDA’s regulatory authority under section 343(r) extends only to descriptive “claims” that 

manufacturers or vendors choose to make about their products. Factual statements that do not in 

any way “characterize” the level of nutrients, however, by definition do not fall within the statute’s 

coverage. See 21 C.F.R. § 101.13(i)(3). The FDA explains the distinction as follows:

The [NLEA] permits the use of label claims that characterize the level of a nutrient 

in a food (i.e., nutrient content claims) made in accordance with FDA’s authorizing 

regulations. Nutrient content claims describe the level of a nutrient or dietary substance in the product, using terms such as free, high, and low, or they compare the level 

of a nutrient in a food to that of another food, using terms such as more, reduced, and 

lite. An accurate quantitative statement (e.g., 200 mg of sodium) that does not 

“characterize” the nutrient level may be used to describe any amount of a nutrient present. However, a statement such as “only 200 mg of sodium” characterizes the level of sodium as being low and would therefore need to conform to the 

criteria of an appropriate nutrient content claim or carry a disclosure statement that it 

does not comply with the claim. 

FDA, Claims that Can Be Made for Conventional Foods and Dietary Supplements (2003) (emphasis in bold 

added), available at http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/hclaims.html.

With respect to health claims, section 343(r) uses the word “claim” in much the same way, to 

refer to statements manufacturers choose to make that “characterize” the relationship between the 

nutrients in their foods and diseases or health effects. § 343(r)(1)(B). Health claims, however, are 

regulated somewhat differently. Instead of providing a list of specific descriptive terms that 

manufacturers may use, FDA authorizes a health claim only when it determines that there is 

“significant scientific agreement” that scientific evidence supports the health claim. 21 C.F.R. § 

101.14(c). 

B. The NLEA’s Exemption for Restaurant Foods from Federal Nutrition Labeling 

Requirements 

The extent to which restaurants should or should not be covered by the NLEA’s nutrition labeling requirements was a matter of considerable debate in Congress. Many of the legislation’s 

supporters wanted restaurants foods to fall under section 343(q)’s nutrition labeling requirements, 

but such coverage “was vociferously opposed by the National Restaurant Association,” Sims, Politics 

Case 1:07-cv-05710-RJH Document 26-2 Filed 07/16/2007 Page 16 of 61
9

of Fat, at 200, and was not included in the final legislation. See § 343(q)(5)(A)(i) (exempting food that 

is “served in restaurants” from the nutrition labeling requirements of section 343(q)). As far as 

federal law is concerned, restaurants are not required to provide the kind of nutritional information—such as listings of the calories or fat in all food items—that is required of packaged foods.5

Thus, the only circumstance in which the NLEA affects restaurants is when they make 

“claims,” within the meaning of section 343(r), that “characterize” the nutrients in the foods they 

serve—for example, when a restaurant’s menu describes an item as “low fat.” 21 C.F.R. § 101.10; see 

FDA Talk Paper T96-52 (July 30, 1996), available at http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~lrd/tpmenus.html 

(“This final rule affects only those restaurateurs who place claims such as ‘low fat’ or ‘heart healthy’ 

on their menus.”).6

 A restaurant that makes such a descriptive claim is obligated only to disclose 

“the nutrient amounts that are the basis for the claim.” 21 C.F.R. § 101.10. Such quantitative 

 5

 In 2004, the FDA’s Obesity Working Group explained the implications of the regulatory 

gap left open by section 343(q)’s exemption for restaurant food: “[U]nder the laws administered by 

FDA, restaurants are not required to provide nutrition information unless a nutrient content or 

health claim is made for a food or meal. When claims are made, however, the restaurant need only 

provide information about the amount of the nutrient that is the subject of the claim. Restaurants 

may, and many do, provide nutrition information on a voluntary basis. Nevertheless, this nutrition 

information is often in the form of posters, placemats or menu icons, or on the Internet, rather than 

at the point-of-sale. Such information is not always readily available or observable at the point-ofsale.” FDA, Calories Count: Report of the Working Group on Obesity (2004), at Part V.B., available at 

http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/owg-toc.html (“FDA Calories Count Report”). 

6

 FDA originally decided to exempt restaurant menus—but not restaurant signs, placards or 

posters—from its regulations implementing section 343(r). 58 Fed. Reg. 2066 (Jan. 6, 1993). In 

response to a lawsuit filed by Public Citizen and Center for Science in the Public Interest, FDA 

reversed course just six months later and issued proposed regulations to remove the menu exemption, 58 Fed. Reg. 33055 (June 15, 1993), but the regulations were rejected by the White House 

Office of Management and Budget under pressure from the restaurant industry. See Sims, Politics of 

Fat, at 201. The court in that lawsuit ultimately held that the menu exemption was contrary to the 

NLEA, Public Citizen v. Shalala, 932 F. Supp. 13 (D.D.C. 1996), and, about one month later, the 

agency issued a final rule that adopted its June 1993 proposal. See 61 Fed. Reg. 40320 (Aug. 2, 1996) 

(adopting final rule). 

Case 1:07-cv-05710-RJH Document 26-2 Filed 07/16/2007 Page 17 of 61
10

declarations are considered the “functional equivalent” of the type of nutritional labeling required of 

packaged foods. Id.

C. The NLEA’s Preemption Provisions 

Congress also devoted careful attention to the subject of preemption during its consideration 

of the NLEA. See Sims, Politics of Fat, at 199 (“The preemption issue remained a key area of dispute 

throughout consideration of the food labeling bill, with the basic issue being how far the legislation 

should go in setting uniform food labeling regulations that preempt state laws.”).7

 In the final 

moments of the floor debate before the NLEA was formally adopted by the House after its passage 

in both chambers, Representative Waxman explained that carefully limited federal preemption had 

been added to the bill to induce industry to support the legislation. 136 Cong. Rec. H12951-02, 

H12954 (Oct. 26, 1990) (“[I]t was decided that the fairest way to expect the food industry to support 

a nutrition labeling bill, was to give them some types of preemption of some burdensome State laws that 

interfered with their ability to do business in all 50 States.”) (emphasis added). Even Senator Orrin 

Hatch, who was the leading proponent of stronger federal preemption, conceded that “the carefully 

crafted uniformity section of this legislation is limited in scope.” 136 Cong. Rec. S16607-02, S16611 

(Oct. 24, 1990). 

In an effort to satisfy industry concerns while remaining “sensitive to the regulatory roles 

played by the States,” the Senate reached a compromise that was “refined to provide national 

uniformity where it is most necessary, while otherwise preserving State regulatory authority where it 

is appropriate.” 136 Cong. Rec. S16607-02, S16609 (Oct. 24, 1990) (Sen. Mitchell); see also 136 

Cong. Rec. S16607-02, S16611 (Oct. 24, 1990). (Sen Hatch) (“[T]he compromise makes clear that 

 7 See generally Bradley, The States’ Role in Regulating Food Labeling and Advertising: The Effect of the 

Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 1990, 49 Food & Drug L.J. 649, 659 (1994); Jordan, Preemption 

and Uniform Enforcement of Food Marketing Regulations, 49 Food & Drug L.J. 401, 401 (1994). 

Case 1:07-cv-05710-RJH Document 26-2 Filed 07/16/2007 Page 18 of 61
11

the national uniformity in food labeling that is set forth in the legislation has absolutely no effect on 

preemption of State or local requirements that relate to such things as warnings about foods or 

components of food.”). That default position—of “otherwise preserving State regulatory authority”—is reflected in a special rule of construction limiting the preemptive effect of the NLEA to 

only state laws that fall within the NLEA’s express preemption provisions: 

The Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 1990 shall not be construed to preempt any provision of State law, unless such provision is expressly preempted under section 403A [21 U.S.C. § 343-1(a)] of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic 

Act. 

Pub. L. No. 101-535, § 6(c), 104 Stat. 2535, 2364 (21 U.S.C. § 343-1 note). 

Given its exemption of restaurant food from NLEA’s nutrition labeling regime, Congress 

specifically considered the question of state and local authority to regulate nutrition labeling in 

restaurants. The final legislation contained a preemption provision that was carefully drafted to 

preempt any “requirement for nutrition labeling of food that is not identical to” section 343(q), 

“except a requirement for nutrition labeling of food which is exempt” from section 343(q)—that is, 

except a requirement for nutrition labeling of restaurant food. § 343-1(a)(4) (emphasis added). On 

the day that the NLEA passed the Senate by a voice vote, the Act’s chief Senate sponsor, Senator 

Howard Metzenbaum, explained the meaning of this exception: 

Because food sold in restaurants is exempt from the nutrition labeling requirements 

of section 403(q)(1)-(4), the bill does not preempt any state nutrition labeling requirements for 

restaurants.

136 Cong. Rec. S16607-02, S16608 (Oct. 24, 1990) (Sen. Metzenbaum) (emphasis added). 

Case 1:07-cv-05710-RJH Document 26-2 Filed 07/16/2007 Page 19 of 61
12

ARGUMENT 

I. A STRONG PRESUMPTION AGAINST PREEMPTION APPLIES IN THIS 

CASE. 

In seeking a ruling from this court that New York City Health Code Regulation § 81.50 is 

preempted by federal law, NYSRA bears an especially heavy burden. “[B]ecause the States are 

independent sovereigns in our federal system,” federal courts must presume “that the historic police 

powers of the States were not to be superseded by the Federal Act unless that was the clear and 

manifest purpose of Congress.” Medtronic, Inc. v. Lohr, 518 U.S. 470, 485 (1996) (internal quotation 

marks omitted); see Rogers v. Consolidated Rail Corp., 948 F.2d 858, 859 (2d Cir. 1991) (“Pre-emption of 

state law by federal statute or regulation is not favored ‘in the absence of persuasive reasons—either 

that the nature of the regulated subject matter permits no other conclusion, or that the Congress has 

unmistakably so ordained.’”) (quoting Chicago & N.W. Transp. Co. v. Kalo Brick & Tile Co., 450 U.S. 

311, 317 (1981)). That presumption is rooted in an imperative of federalism implicit in the constitutional plan and embodied, among other places, in the Tenth Amendment. An insistence on “clear 

and manifest” Congressional intent “provides assurance that the ‘federal-state balance’ will not be 

disturbed unintentionally by Congress or unnecessarily by the courts.” Jones v. Rath Packing Co., 430 

U.S. 519, 525 (1977) (quoting United States v. Bass, 404 U.S. 336, 349 (1971)); see generally Grey, Make 

Congress Speak Clearly, 77 B.U. L. Rev. 559 (1997); Hoke, Preemption Pathologies and Civic Republican 

Values, 71 B.U. L. Rev. 685 (1991).8

 8

NYSRA urges this Court to strike down New York’s rule because it regards it as a novel 

“social science experiment” aimed at solving a problem (the obesity epidemic) for which nobody has 

found a “magic bullet.” Br. at 3. But, as Justice Brandeis famously observed, one of the chief 

virtues of our system of federalism is that “a single courageous State may, if its citizens choose, serve 

as a laboratory; and try novel social and economic experiments without risk to the rest of the 

country.” New State Ice Co. v. Liebmann, 285 U.S. 262, 311 (1932). It is precisely when “disagreement 

exists about how best to accomplish [a] goal” that “the theory and utility of our federalism are 

revealed, for the States may perform their role as laboratories for experimentation to devise various 

solutions where the best solution is far from clear.” United States v. Lopez, 514 U.S. 549, 581 (1995) 

Case 1:07-cv-05710-RJH Document 26-2 Filed 07/16/2007 Page 20 of 61
13

The City’s regulation “falls squarely within its prerogative to regulate matters of health and 

safety, which is a sphere in which the presumption against preemption applies, indeed, stands at its 

strongest.” Desiano v. Warner-Lambert & Co., 467 F.3d 85, 94 (2d Cir. 2007) (discussing preemption in 

context of food and drug law); see Medtronic, 518 U.S. at 485. Federal courts presume “that state and 

local regulation of health and safety matters can constitutionally coexist with federal regulation” 

because “the regulation of health and safety matters is primarily, and historically, a matter of local 

concern.” Hillsborough County v. Automated Med. Labs., Inc., 471 U.S. 707, 719 (1985). “[T]here is 

indeed no subject of legislation more firmly identified with local affairs than the regulation of 

restaurants.” District of Columbia v. John R. Thompson Co., 346 U.S. 100, 113 (1953). 

Any analysis of the scope of federal preemption must be guided by the principle that “the 

purpose of Congress is the ultimate touchstone in every preemption case.” Medtronic, 518 U.S. at 

485 (internal quotation marks omitted). That purpose, of course, is discerned primarily “from the 

language of the pre-emption statute and the statutory framework surrounding it.” Id. at 486 (internal 

quotation marks omitted). In addition, the Court must examine the “structure and purpose of the 

statute as a whole, as revealed not only in the text, but through the reviewing court’s reasoned 

understanding of the way in which Congress intended the statute and its surrounding regulatory 

scheme to affect business, consumers, and the law.” Id. (internal citations and quotation marks 

omitted). Here, the analysis must begin and end with the carefully limited language of the NLEA’s 

express preemption clause because Congress made clear that “the Nutrition Labeling and Education 

Act of 1990 shall not be construed to preempt any provision of State law, unless such provision is 

expressly preempted” by that language. Pub. L. No. 101-535, § 6(c), 104 Stat. 2535, 2364 (21 U.S.C. 

 

(Kennedy, J., concurring); see generally Hills, Against Preemption: How Federalism Can Improve the National 

Legislative Process, 82 N.Y.U. L. Rev. 1 (2007). The solution New York is pursuing here, moreover, is 

one that is supported by an growing scientific and public policy consensus. See Br. of Amici City and 

County of San Francisco, et al.

Case 1:07-cv-05710-RJH Document 26-2 Filed 07/16/2007 Page 21 of 61
14

§ 343-1 note); see AT&T Communications of Ill., Inc. v. Ill. Bell Tel. Co., 349 F.3d 402, 410 (7th Cir. 

2003). Thus, the Court’s only task is to determine whether New York City’s rule falls within “’the 

domain expressly pre-empted’ by that language.” Medtronic, 518 U.S. at 484 (quoting Cipollone v. 

Liggett Group, Inc., 505 U.S. 504 (1992)). To the extent that there is any ambiguity—and, as explained 

below, there is none—this Court has a “duty” to adopt a plausible reading of the statute that 

preserves local autonomy. See Bates v. Dow Agrosciences LLC, 544 U.S. 431, 449 (2005) (“[I]ndeed, 

even if its alternative were just as plausible as our reading of that text . . . we would nevertheless 

have a duty to accept the reading that disfavors pre-emption.”); Ace Auto Body & Towing, LTD v. City 

of New York, 171 F.3d 765, 776 (2d Cir. 1999). 

II. THE NLEA LEAVES STATES FREE TO REQUIRE NUTRITION LABELING 

OF RESTAURANT FOOD. 

The NLEA requires that manufacturers disclose specific nutrition information about most 

food products sold in the United States, including “nutrition information that provides . . . the total 

number of calories . . . derived from any source . . . in each serving size or other unit of measure of 

the food.” § 343(q)(1)(C)(i). Under NLEA’s preemption provision, states and local governments 

are not free, as a general matter, to adopt “any requirement for nutrition labeling of food” that is not 

“identical” what federal law requires. § 343-1(a)(4). Thus, New York City clearly could not adopt a 

rule requiring cereal boxes or cans of soup sold in local grocery stores to display the City’s own 

version of the federal “Nutrition Facts” panel. 

 But Congress, seeking to avoid a regulatory vacuum, intentionally excepted state requirements for nutrition labeling of restaurant food from NLEA preemption at the same time that it 

exempted restaurant food from the new federal labeling requirements. The NLEA preempts “any 

requirement for nutrition labeling of food that is not identical to the requirement of section 343(q) . 

. . except a requirement for nutrition labeling of food which is exempt” under that section—i.e., a requirement 

for nutrition labeling of restaurant food. § 343-1(a)(4) (emphasis added); see § 343(q)(5)(A)(i) 

Case 1:07-cv-05710-RJH Document 26-2 Filed 07/16/2007 Page 22 of 61
15

(providing that section 343(q)’s nutrition labeling requirements “shall not apply to food . . . which is 

served in restaurants or other establishments in which food is served for immediate human 

consumption or which is sold for sale or use in such establishments”). Taken together, these three 

provisions—sections 343-1(a)(4), 343(q)(5)(A)(i) and 343(q)(1)(C)(i)—demonstrate that Congress 

intended that the NLEA would not preempt state requirements “for nutrition labeling”—including 

labeling “that provides . . . the total number of calories”—for “food . . . which is served in restaurants.” Indeed, this Court has already rejected the proposition that the NLEA preempts a requirement that restaurants disclose nutritional information about their food. See Pelman, 237 F. Supp. 2d 

at 526 (“A finding that a lack of nutritional labeling on McDonalds’ products violates [New York 

law] therefore is explicitly not pre-empted by the NLEA.”). 

The legislative history fully supports a common sense interpretation of the statute’s text. 

Senator Howard Metzenbaum of Ohio, the chief sponsor of the NLEA in the Senate, could hardly 

have been clearer on this point: 

Because food sold in restaurants is exempt from the nutrition labeling requirements 

of section 403(q) (1)-(4) [343(q)(1)-(4)], the bill does not preempt any State nutrition labeling 

requirements for restaurants.

136 Cong.Rec. S16607-02, S16608 (Oct. 24, 1990) (Sen. Metzenbaum) (emphasis added). 

The FDA is of the same view. See FDA, A Guide for Restaurants and Other Retail Establishments, 

available at http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~frf/qatext2.html (“Question: Can a State require restaurant 

foods to bear nutrition labeling even if the food is exempt under Federal requirements? Answer: Yes 

. . . [B]ecause the act exempts restaurant foods that do not bear a claim from mandatory nutrition 

labeling, State requirements for the nutrition labeling of such foods would not be preempted.”). 

NYSRA (at 10 n.2) attempts to downplay this unequivocal FDA statement as “outdated” 

because the Guide for Restaurants was issued in 1995, before the agency’s 1996 regulations implementing section 343(r)’s “claims” requirements as applied to restaurant menus (see n.7, infra). But the 

Case 1:07-cv-05710-RJH Document 26-2 Filed 07/16/2007 Page 23 of 61
16

issue of coverage for menus under section 343(r) is entirely beside the point. The FDA statement 

specifically distinguishes between “mandatory nutrition labeling” of the type required under section 

343(q)—from which restaurant food is exempt—and “foods that bear a claim” under section 343(r), 

and follows the common sense reading of the statute discussed above. Moreover, subsequent FDA 

and FDA-sponsored publications are fully consistent with the 1995 statement, see, e.g., Keystone Report

at 74; FDA Calories Count Report at V.B, and NYSRA does not contend otherwise. 

Conspicuously absent from the NYSRA’s brief is any explanation for why the Court should 

ignore the clear evidence of Congressional intent, in the final clause of section 343-1(a)(4), not to 

preempt nutrition labeling requirements for restaurant food. “That Congress added the remainder 

of the provision is evidence of its intent to draw a distinction between state labeling requirements 

that are pre-empted and those that are not.” Bates, 544 U.S. at 449. 

 In sum, not only is there no “clear and manifest” evidence of Congressional intent to 

preempt restaurant labeling regulations like New York’s, Medtronic, 518 U.S. at 485, but the clearest 

evidence of Congressional intent—in the form of statutory language, legislative history, and agency 

interpretation, all addressing precisely the question of preemption of state nutrition labeling 

requirements for restaurant food—points decisively away from preemption. 

III. NEW YORK’S RULE HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE TYPE OF DESCRIPTIVE “CLAIMS” REGULATED BY THE NLEA. 

In an effort to sidestep Congress’s exclusion of local restaurant nutrition labeling requirements from express preemption under the NLEA, NYSRA turns instead to a different section of 

the Act, section 343(r), which prohibits unauthorized or unsubstantiated descriptive “claims” about 

food, and its companion preemption provision. See § 343(r) (prohibiting any “claim” that “characterizes” the nutrient content of food unless the “characterization” employs specific “terms” defined by 

the FDA); § 343-1(a)(5) (preempting state law “respecting any claim of the type described in section 

343(r)”). For its express preemption argument to be plausible, the Restaurant Association must 

Case 1:07-cv-05710-RJH Document 26-2 Filed 07/16/2007 Page 24 of 61
17

demonstrate that New York Health Code Regulation § 81.50 a “requirement respecting any claim of 

the type described in section 343(r).” § 343-1(a)(5). The Restaurant Association’s argument is 

creative, but the bottom line is that New York City’s rule has nothing to do with such “claims.” The 

New York rule neither prevents restaurants from making, nor requires them to make, nor limits the 

circumstances under which they may make, descriptive claims characterizing the nutrient content or 

health effects of their food. Restaurants in New York remain just as free as they were in the past to 

make such descriptive claims, so long as they comply with federal law. 

New York’s calorie labeling rule requires only that certain restaurants “post on menu boards 

and menus the calorie content values . . . for each menu item next to the listing of each menu item.” 

24 RCNY Health Code Reg. § 81.50(b). Although its brief is not entirely clear on this point, 

NYSRA appears to concede that a nutrient content claim of the type described in section 343(r) 

must be “voluntarily made by the restaurant” (Br. at 9) and, thus, that the factual disclosures 

required by Regulation 81.50 would not themselves constitute “claims” within the meaning of 

section 343(r). Hence, if the City were to adopt a regulation requiring all restaurants in the City to 

disclose calorie content information on their menus, even under NYSRA’s theory, that requirement 

presumably would not be preempted by federal law. 

Instead, NYSRA’s theory appears to be that New York’s rule is preempted because it is 

more narrowly tailored. Specifically, to make the regulation less burdensome, the City limited 

Regulation 81.50’s coverage only to menu items that are (a) “served in portions the size and content 

of which are standardized” and (b) “for which calorie content information is made publicly available 

on or after March 1, 2007, by or on behalf of the food service establishment serving the items.” 24 

RCNY Health Code Reg. § 81.50(a). NYSRA’s position appears to be premised on an assertion that 

any publication of “calorie content information” within the meaning of the New York rule is 

equivalent to the type of “claim” regulated by section 343(r). See NYSRA Br. at 13 (“There can be 

Case 1:07-cv-05710-RJH Document 26-2 Filed 07/16/2007 Page 25 of 61
18

no doubt that Regulation 81.50 imposes requirements ‘respecting any claim of the type described in 

section 343(r)(1)’ because publishing calorie content is a nutrition content claim under that section.”).9

 As explained below, that assertion is at odds with section 343(r)’s text, authoritative FDA 

interpretations, the legislative history, and the structure of the NLEA as a whole. NYSRA’s 

construction would also lead to absurd results and would threaten to swallow the exception that 

Congress intentionally created for state restaurant-labeling requirements. 

1. The Text of the Statute. New York’s rule is not a requirement respecting any “claim of 

the type described in section 343(r),” § 343-1(a)(4), because it is not a requirement respecting 

“claims” at all. The word “claim,” read in the context of section 343(r) and the NLEA as a whole, 

refers to a qualitative assertion in need of substantiation—that is, “an assertion, statement, or 

implication (as of value, effectiveness, qualification, eligibility) often made or likely to be suspected 

of being made without adequate justification,” for example: “his claims to sound scholarship,” or 

“appraising the authenticity of some dealer’s claims.” Webster’s Third New International Dictionary 414 

(1965). A company making a “claim” is not simply making a straightforward factual disclosure but is 

 9

 Because this is a facial challenge, NYSRA cannot meet its burden merely by speculating 

about scenarios under which the City might construe the phrase “calorie content information” to 

encompass descriptive food claims. The Court may not “rest [its] decision on consequences that, 

while possible, are by no means predictable.” Dep't of Taxation and Fin. of N.Y. v. Milhelm Attea & 

Bros., Inc., 512 U.S. 61, 69 (1994); see PhRMA v. Concannon, 249 F.3d 66, 77-78 (1st Cir. 2001), aff’d 

sub. nom. PhRMA v. Walsh, 538 U.S. 644 (2003). “A facial challenge to a legislative Act is, of course, 

the most difficult challenge to mount successfully, since the challenger must establish that no set of 

circumstances exists under which the Act would be valid.” United States v. Salerno, 481 U.S. 739, 745 

(1987); see also Calif. Coastal Comm’n v. Granite Rock Co., 480 U.S. 572, 579-80 (1987); Rice v. Norman 

Williams Co., 458 U.S. 654, 659 (1982) (“The existence of a hypothetical or potential conflict is 

insufficient to warrant the preemption of the state statute.”). And in any event, NYSRA lacks 

standing to mount a challenge based on hypothetical “claims” that NYSRA’s members might make 

in the future. See Nutritional Health Alliance v. Shalala, 144 F.3d 220, 225-227 (2d Cir. 1998) (challenge 

to health-claims regulation was not ripe where “plaintiffs’ complaint did not allege any particular 

health claims that plaintiffs wished to state”); Nutritional Council for Improved Health v. Shalala, 122 F.3d 

878, 884 (10th Cir. 1997) (no standing where “[p]laintiffs do not advance a single claim they wish to 

make . . . which could be prohibited under the health claims regulations”).

Case 1:07-cv-05710-RJH Document 26-2 Filed 07/16/2007 Page 26 of 61
19

instead offering an assertion, statement, or implication that its food has some quality (related to a 

nutrient level or health effect) that the manufacturer believes will make the food desirable to 

consumers. 

Because companies were frequently making such statements without adequate justification 

prior to NLEA’s passage, Congress delegated authority to the FDA to regulate the circumstances 

under which such claims may be made, to ensure that they are made justifiably and in a manner 

consumers can understand. See 136 Cong. Rec. H5836-01, H5840 (July 30, 1990) (Rep. Waxman) 

(“Today, companies use terms such as ‘low’ and ‘light’ inconsistently. On some products, ‘light’ 

means low in fat; on others, such as some brands of olive oil, it refers to the color of the product. 

The bill would correct this deceptive and misleading state of affairs by requiring that terms such as 

‘light’ have a single meaning.”). For nutrient content claims, section 343(r) creates a mechanism 

whereby such “content claims” must “be consistent with terms defined” by the FDA. Id. For 

health claims, the FDA will only allow foods to bear claims about the links between foods and 

diseases if the claim is shown to be substantiated by significant scientific agreement, either through a 

rulemaking by FDA or an authoritative statement, by a federal agency with relevant scientific 

expertise, to which FDA does not object. § 343(r)(4); 21 C.F.R. § 101.14(c). But New York’s rule is 

concerned only with straightforward factual information concerning the amount of calories in food 

items; it has nothing to do with regulating such potentially unsubstantiated or confusing assertions. 

Even if factual disclosures of calorie information might otherwise constitute “claims,” they 

are not claims that use descriptive “terms” to “characterize” a nutrient level within the meaning of 

section 343(r), and thus would not be a “claim of the type described in section 343(r).” § 343-

1(a)(5). Section 343(r) covers a “claim” made on a food label that “characterizes” the level of a 

nutrient or the relationship of a nutrient to a disease or health-related condition, providing that such 

claims “may be made only if the characterization of the level made in the claim uses terms which are 

Case 1:07-cv-05710-RJH Document 26-2 Filed 07/16/2007 Page 27 of 61
20

defined in regulations of the [FDA].” §§ 343(r)(1), 343(r)(2)(A)(i). Section 343(r) uses the word 

“characterize” in the sense of “to describe the character or individual quality of,” as in, for example, 

“He characterized her in a few well-chosen words.” American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 

4th ed. (2006); see also Webster’s Third New International Dictionary 376 (1965) (defining “characterize” as 

“to describe the essential character or quality of”). Thus, factual statements that do not implicitly or 

explicitly use “terms” to “characterize” the nutrient content of food are not “claims” of the type 

described in section 343(r). 

2. FDA Regulations, Guidance, and Enforcement Letters. The FDA’s regulations—

which are entitled to deference, Hillsborough County, 471 U.S. at 714-15—are consistent with that 

interpretation. The regulations define a nutrient content claim as “[a] claim that expressly or 

implicitly characterizes the level of a nutrient of a type required to be in nutrition labeling under [the 

regulations implementing 343(q)].” 21 C.F.R. § 101.13(b). The regulations go on to provide an 

extensive dictionary of “terms” that “characterize” nutrient levels—including light, lite, high, rich in, 

excellent source of, good source of, contains, provides, more, fortified, enriched, added, extra, and plus. 21 C.F.R. §§ 

101.54-101.69; see also FDA, Definitions of Nutrient Content Claims, Food Labeling Guide—Appendix A, 

http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/flg-6a.html; FDA, Label Claims: Nutrient Content Claims, 

http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/lab-nutr.html. 

Although NYSRA’s brief devotes scant attention to the threshold question of whether New 

York’s rule is a requirement concerning claims of the type described in section 343(r), it twice quotes 

a snippet of the relevant FDA regulation, which lists the phrase “contains 100 calories” as an 

example of an expressed nutrient content claim that might be made by a food manufacturer. 21 

C.F.R. § 101.13(b)(1). That regulation, NYSRA suggests, supports the proposition that any 

“statements about calories are ‘nutrient content claims’ within the meaning of the NLEA” (Br. at 10) 

and are thus governed by section 343(r) and its implementing regulations. 

Case 1:07-cv-05710-RJH Document 26-2 Filed 07/16/2007 Page 28 of 61
21

 In fact, the regulation that NYSRA cites undermines rather than supports its express preemption argument. Again, that regulation make clear that section 343(r) extends only to a “claim 

that expressly or implicitly characterizes the level of a nutrient,” 21 C.F.R. 101.13(b) (emphasis added), 

and thus confirms that a statement is a claim within the meaning of section 343(r) only if it uses 

descriptive terms—such as “low,” “more” or “contains”—to characterize the level of nutrients. See, 

e.g., 21 C.F.R. 101.54(c) (listing “contains” as a descriptive term and limiting its use). 

More to the point, and in keeping with the plain meaning of the word “characterize,” the 

same regulation that NYSRA cites makes clear that section 343(r) does not extend to straightforward 

listings of calorie amounts that are not accompanied by statements that implicitly “characterize” the 

calorie content. “The label or labeling of a product may contain a statement about the amount of 

percentage of a nutrient if:” 

(3) The statement does not in any way implicitly characterize the level of the 

nutrient in the food and it is not false or misleading in any respect (e.g., “100 

calories” or “5 grams of fat”), in which case no disclaimer is required. 

21 C.F.R. § 101.13(i)(3).10 Notably, the regulation uses the bare phrase “100 calories” as an 

illustration of a statement about the “amount or percentage of a nutrient” that does not “characterize” a nutrient level. Again using “100 calories” as an example, the FDA explained the reasoning for 

the regulation as follows: 

[B]ased on the comments and its review of the 1990 amendments, FDA finds that 

there are some circumstances in which an amount claim cannot be considered to 

characterize in any way the level of a nutrient in a food. For example, the statement 

“100 calories” or “5 grams of fat” on the principal display panel of a food would be a 

simple statement of amount that, by itself, conveys no implied characterization of 

the level of the nutrient. 

 10The qualification that a statement may not be “false or misleading in any respect” is a reference to FDA’s general authority, under section 343(a), to regulate false or misleading food 

advertising or labeling. Notably, the NLEA does not list section 403(a) among the provisions of the 

statute that preempt state law. See Jordan, Preemption and Uniform Enforcement, 49 Food & Drug L.J. at 

402.

Case 1:07-cv-05710-RJH Document 26-2 Filed 07/16/2007 Page 29 of 61
22

58 Fed. Reg. 2302-01, 2310 (Jan. 6, 1993). 

FDA’s guidance concerning its regulations expands on the same point: “Nutrient content 

claims describe the level of a nutrient or dietary substance in the product, using terms such as free, 

high, and low, or they compare the level of a nutrient in a food to that of another food, using terms 

such as more, reduced, and lite. An accurate quantitative statement (e.g., 200 mg of sodium) that does 

not ‘characterize’ the nutrient level may be used to describe any amount of a nutrient present.” 

FDA, Claims that Can Be Made for Conventional Foods and Dietary Supplements (2003) (emphasis added), 

available at http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/hclaims.html; see also Guarino, Nutrient Descriptor and 

Disease Claims for Foods, 48 Food & Drug L.J. at 671 (discussing 21 C.F.R. 101.13(i)(3)). 

 If any further confirmation is needed that straightforward calorie content information falls 

outside the scope of section 343(r), it can be found in FDA enforcement letters, a few of which are 

attached as an appendix to this brief. In one of the attached letters, FDA responded to a request 

from amicus Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) urging the agency to regulate products 

bearing the statement “0 trans fat.” See Letter to M. Jacobson from B. Schneeman, dated Apr. 14, 

2006. The FDA letter noted that CSPI had “refer[red] to these statements (i.e., ‘0g trans fat’) as 

claims” and acknowledged that “there are no approved nutrient content claims for trans fat.” Id. at 

1. Nevertheless, the agency rejected the request on the grounds that such bare factual statements 

concerning the amount of nutrients are not claims at all: 

[T]he label of labeling may contain a factual statement about the amount or percentage of a nutrient in accordance with 21 C.F.R. 101.13(i)(3). The use of this kind of 

factual statement should not in any way imply that there is a little or a lot of the nutrient in the food and is not false or misleading under section 403(a) of the Act. . . . . 

The use of descriptive words, such as ‘only’ or ‘contains,’ would implicitly characterize the level of the nutrient for which there is no definition. A claim that expressly 

or implicitly characterizes the level of a nutrient may not be made on the label or labeling foods unless the claim is made in accordance with the regulations (21 C.F.R. 

101.13(b)). 

Case 1:07-cv-05710-RJH Document 26-2 Filed 07/16/2007 Page 30 of 61
23

The ‘0g trans fat’ statements presented in your letter are considered factual 

statements, rather than nutrient content claims, in accordance with § 101.13(i)(3) 

and the products are not considered misbranded under the Act. 

Id. at 2 (emphasis added). 

3. The Legislative History. The legislative history also overwhelmingly confirms that 

Congress intended section 343(r)(1)(A) to mean what it says—that it encompasses only “claims” that 

use descriptive “terms” to “characterize” nutrient levels. In presenting a revised version of the bill 

before the House, Representative Waxman explained that the statute had “been amended to provide 

that restaurants that use content descriptors in connection with the sale of food (for example, the use of 

the word ‘light’ or ‘low’ on the menu) must comply with regulations issued by the Secretary under 

section [section 343(r)].” 136 Cong. Rec. H5836-01, H5841 (July 30, 1990) (emphasis added). 

The legislative history is sprinkled throughout with similar references, describing section 

343(r) as regulating “certain descriptor words,” “special nutritional claims,” and “terms that are used 

when products are advertised as being ‘light,’ or ‘free,’ or ‘high.’” See, e.g., 136 Cong. Rec. H12951-

02, H12953-54 (Oct. 26, 1990) (Rep. Madigan) (“Regarding nutrition claims on foods, the bill 

requires that content claims such as light, low, et cetera, would have to be consistent with terms 

defined by the FDA. This is to address the current problem of companies using these terms 

differently and inconsistently. ”); 136 Cong. Rec. S16607-02, S16608 (Oct. 24, 1990) (Sen. Metzenbaum) (describing “the Secretary’s responsibility under the bill to regulate nutrition content 

claims which use certain ‘descriptor’ words, like ‘low-fat’ and ‘light.’ The Secretary is required to 

define in regulations the terms which may be used to characterize the level of a nutrient in food.”); 

id. at S16609 (Sen. Mitchell) (describing the purpose of section 343(r) to “regulate the use of special 

nutritional claims that may appear on food packages. These rules will apply to such terms as ‘lite’ 

and ‘reduced,’ as well as regulating specialized claims regarding the effect of certain nutrients on 

disease-such as ‘reduces the risk of cancer.’”); id. at S16610 (Sen. Hatch) (“Today, there is confusion 

Case 1:07-cv-05710-RJH Document 26-2 Filed 07/16/2007 Page 31 of 61
24

about terms that are used when products are advertised as being ‘light,’ or ‘free,’ or ‘high.’ By virtue 

of this compromise, the Secretary will define specific terms within a set period of time.”). By 

contrast, the legislative history does not support NYSRA’s odd construction of the statute, in which 

a “claim” under section 343(r) would apparently include even the blandest of disclosures that 

“characterize” nothing. 

4. The Statutory Scheme as a Whole. NYSRA’s unorthodox construction of section 

343(r) is also incompatible with the statutory scheme as a whole. Under NYSRA’s construction, 

Congress’s decision not to preempt state and local restaurant labeling requirements is greatly 

undermined, and the statute’s distinction between descriptive “claims” and any other kinds of 

statements—even straightforward factual disclosures—collapses. NYSRA offers no principled basis 

for distinguishing between the sphere of regulation of nutritional information in restaurants that 

Congress expressly left open to state and local regulation in section 343-1(a)(4) (the companion 

preemption provision to section 343(q)), and the types of regulations respecting “claims” within the 

meaning of sections 343-1(a)(5) (the companion preemption provision to section 343(r)). 

NYSRA’s interpretation of the statute would also lead to absurd results in more specific 

ways. The FDA rule on which NYSRA relies most heavily, 21 C.F.R. § 101.10, provides that a 

restaurant that makes a descriptive claim of the type covered by section 343(r) must disclose “the 

nutrient amounts that are the basis for the claim,” which are considered the “functional equivalent” 

of the type of nutritional labeling required of packaged foods. 21 C.F.R. § 101.10. But under 

NYSRA’s construction, there would apparently be no difference between the type of claim that 

triggers the regulation in the first place and the factual disclosure that must accompany the claim as a 

result. Another FDA rule, 21 C.F.R. § 101.60, implements section 343(r) by defining nutrient 

content claims for the calorie content of foods. The rule provides that “[a] claim about the calorie 

or sugar content of a food may only be made on the label or labeling of a food if . . . [t]he claim uses 

Case 1:07-cv-05710-RJH Document 26-2 Filed 07/16/2007 Page 32 of 61
25

the terms defined in this section in accordance with the definition for that term,” and goes on define 

such terms as low calorie and reduced calorie and the circumstances under which they may be used. Id. § 

101.60(a)(1). If NYSRA’s construction of section 343(r) were correct, neither a manufacturer of 

packaged food nor a restaurant could truthfully disclose in a straightforward, non-descriptive 

manner the number of calories in a food (outside of the labeling required by section 343(q)), because 

that would constitute a “claim” about the calorie content of the food that does not use one of the 

defined terms. The more sensible reading, of course—and the one adopted by the FDA—is that 

the disclosure of such calorie content information does not constitute a “claim” within the meaning 

of section 343(r) in the first place. See 21 C.F.R. § 101.13(i)(3). 

In short, New York’s calorie labeling law does not come close to addressing “claims” that 

restaurants may decide to make about their food, let alone claims that “characterize” nutrient levels 

using descriptive “terms” of the type regulated by section 343(r) and its implementing regulations. 

Rather, New York’s rule mandates nutrition labeling for certain restaurant food, just as section 

343(q) mandates nutrition labeling for packaged food, and thus falls squarely into the sphere that 

Congress intentionally left open to the states. 

IV. THE NLEA FORECLOSES IMPLIED PREEMPTION. 

NYSRA’s implied preemption argument (at 16-18) is incompatible with Congress’s command that “[t]he Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 1990 shall not be construed to preempt 

any provision of State law, unless such provision is expressly preempted under section 403A [21 

U.S.C. § 343-1(a)] of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.” § 343-1 note (Pub. L. No. 101-

535, § 6(c), 104 Stat. 2535, 2364 (1990)). As the FDA has explained, this statutory language “clearly 

manifests Congress’s intention that the 1990 amendments” are not to preempt state law beyond the 

NLEA’s express terms: “If there is no applicable Federal requirement that has been given preemptive status by Congress, there is no competing claim of jurisdiction, and, therefore, no basis under 

Case 1:07-cv-05710-RJH Document 26-2 Filed 07/16/2007 Page 33 of 61
26

the 1990 amendments for Federal preemption.” 56 Fed. Reg. 60528-0, 60530 (Nov. 27, 1991); accord 

Institute of Medicine, Food Labeling: Toward National Uniformity 68 (1992) (Congressionally-mandated 

study on NLEA preemption). Thus, “the only State requirements that are subject to preemption are 

those that are affirmatively different on matters that are covered by section [343-1] of the act.” 58 Fed. 

Reg. 2462-01 (Jan. 6, 1993) (emphasis added). In this respect, the NLEA’s preemption provisions 

are “somewhat unusual. The NLEA can be analyzed only in terms of express preemption, because 

its express provisions prohibit any implied preemption under the statute.” Burk, The Milk-Free Zone, 

Federal and Local Interests, 22 Colum. J. Envt’l L. 227, 259 (1997); see AT&T Communications of Ill., Inc., 

349 F.3d at 410 (nearly identical anti-preemption clause “precludes a reading that ousts the state 

legislature by implication.”). In short, NYSRA’s bid to wipe out New York’s calorie labeling rule 

must sink or swim on the basis of the language of NLEA’s express preemption provisions.11

 11 Even if Congress had not so clearly foreclosed implied preemption under the NLEA, 

NYSRA’s argument—that New York’s rule “interferes with the flexibility chosen by the FDA to 

encourage restaurants to provide nutrient information” (Br. at 16)—would fail on its own terms 

because “the FDA does not have regulatory authority to require nutrition information in restaurants” in the first place. Keystone Report at 74; see FDA Calories Count Report at V.B. Because “the 

FDA has no statutory authority under the NLEA to mandate nutritional disclosure by the fast food 

industry,” “its reluctance may be explained simply by its lack of authority.” Michael A. McCann, 

Economic Efficiency and Consumer Choice Theory in Nutritional Labeling, 2004 Wis. L. Rev. 1161, 1191 

n.164 (2004). 

“There is no federal pre-emption in vacuo.” Puerto Rico Dep’t of Consumer Affairs, 485 U.S. 495, 

503 (1988); see Pelman, 237 F. Supp. 2d at 525-26 (rejecting McDonald’s argument that Congress’s 

decision not to impose mandatory nutrition labeling requirements on restaurants preempts state law 

nutrition labeling requirements for restaurants); see also Sprietsma v. Mercury Marine, 537 U.S. 51, 65 

(2002) (holding that it is “quite wrong” to view the Coast Guard’s decision not to require propeller 

guards on motor boats as the “functional equivalent” of a prohibition against state regulation of the 

subject matter; the decision was “fully consistent with an intent to preserve state regulatory authority”); Freightliner Corp. v. Myrick, 514 U.S. 280, 289 (1995) (where agency had no standard either 

requiring or prohibiting anti-lock brakes, state claim regarding anti-lock brakes was not preempted). 

Thus, that FDA has not required nutrition labeling by restaurants in no way precludes cities and 

states from doing so. 

Case 1:07-cv-05710-RJH Document 26-2 Filed 07/16/2007 Page 34 of 61
27

V. THE RESTAURANT ASSOCIATION’S FIRST AMENDMENT THEORY 

STANDS THE COMMERCIAL SPEECH DOCTRINE ON ITS HEAD. 

To explain why the Restaurant Association’s First Amendment theory fares no better than 

its preemption arguments, it would be difficult for us to improve upon Judge Walker’s opinion in 

National Electrical Manufacturers Association v. Sorrell, 272 F.3d 104, 113-16 (2d Cir. 2001); see also Br. of 

Amicus Rudd Center. Instead, we pause only to note the breathtaking implications of the Association’s position. In Virginia State Board of Pharmacy v. Virginia Citizens Consumer Council, 425 U.S. 748 

(1976), the first case to establish First Amendment protection for commercial speech, amicus Public 

Citizen represented the plaintiff consumer council, whose members wanted information about drugs 

so they could make informed decisions in the marketplace. The doctrine that has developed since 

then has consistently observed a “constitutional presumption favoring disclosure over concealment,” Ibanez v. Fla. Dep’t. of Bus. and Prof’l Reg., 512 U.S. 136, 145 (1994), because “disclosure 

furthers, rather than hinders” First Amendment values: “Protection of the robust and free flow of 

accurate information is the principal First Amendment justification for protecting commercial 

speech.” Sorrell, 272 F.3d at 114. It is for this reason that commercial disclosure requirements—

including requirements justified by promotion of the public health—are assessed under the 

reasonable-relationship test of Zauderer rather than the intermediate-scrutiny standard of Central 

Hudson. Id. at 115 (citing Zauderer v. Office of Disciplinary Counsel, 471 U.S. 626 (1985); Central Hudson 

Gas & Elec. Corp. v. Public Serv. Comm’n, 447 U.S. 557 (1980)); cf. Rubin v. Coors Brewing Co., 514 U.S. 

476, 484 (1995) (citing federal nutrition labeling requirements as evidence of a trend “favor[ing] 

greater disclosure of information, rather than less”). As the Second Circuit recognized in Sorrell, 

subjecting purely factual commercial disclosure requirements to heightened scrutiny would upend 

these settled principles and distort the commercial speech doctrine into a barrier to the free flow of 

information that may be critical to promoting public health. Id.

Case 1:07-cv-05710-RJH Document 26-2 Filed 07/16/2007 Page 35 of 61
28

NYSRA’s position, in fact, is even more radical than the position rejected in Sorrell, because 

it asks the Court to apply not just intermediate scrutiny, but strict scrutiny, on the theory that the New 

York rule constitutes “compelled speech” under United States v. United Foods, Inc., 533 U.S. 405 

(2001). To appreciate just how much NYSRA’s position would disrupt settled law, it is worth 

considering how it would change the outcome not only in Sorrell, but in other cases that have 

adopted Sorrell’s approach in the face of compelled-speech challenges to various disclosure and 

posting laws. See Envt’l Defense Center v. E.P.A., 344 F.3d 832, 848-851 (9th Cir. 2003) (upholding 

requirement that storm-sewer providers distribute information concerning the environmental 

hazards of stormwater discharges and steps the public can take to reduce pollutants in stormwater 

runoff); UAW-Labor Employment & Training Corp. v. Chao, 325 F.3d 360, 365 (D.C. Cir. 2003) 

(upholding requirement that federal contractors post notices at all of their facilities informing 

employees of rights under federal labor law that protect employees from being forced to join a 

union or to pay mandatory dues for costs unrelated to representational activities); United States v. 

Wenger, 292 F. Supp. 2d 1296, 1303-04 (D. Utah 2003) (upholding federal securities disclosure 

requirements). As these cases recognize, “the First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom from 

‘compelled speech’ is not absolute. Particularly in the commercial arena, the Constitution permits 

the State to require speakers to express certain messages without their consent, the most prominent 

examples being warning and nutritional information labels.” Entertainment Software Ass’n v. Blagovech, 

469 F.3d 641, 651 (7th Cir. 2006) (distinguishing between “opinion-based” compelled speech and 

“purely factual disclosures,” such as “whether a particular chemical is within any given product”);

BellSouth Adver. & Pub. Corp. v. Tenn., 79 S.W.3d 506 (Tenn. 2002), cert denied, 537 U.S. 1189 (2003) 

(Zauderer, not United Foods, supplies the proper standard in cases involving factual commercial 

disclosure requirements); see also Johanns v. Livestock Marketing Ass’n, 544 U.S. 550, 557 (2005) 

(explaining that the Court has recognized only two kinds of compelled-speech cases: “true comCase 1:07-cv-05710-RJH Document 26-2 Filed 07/16/2007 Page 36 of 61
29

pelled-speech cases,” in which an individual must personally express an opinion with which he 

disagrees, and “compelled-subsidy cases,” like United Foods.). Under NYSRA’s expansive theory of 

compelled speech, however, countless federal, state and local laws on a wide range of subjects—

from tobacco, pesticides, and pollutants, to hand-washing by restaurant employees—would be 

exposed to “searching scrutiny by unelected courts.” Sorrell, 272 F.3d at 116. As Judge Walker 

noted in Sorrell, the mandatory nutrition labeling provisions of the NLEA would be among those 

laws. Id. (citing 21 U.S.C. 343(q)). “Such a result is neither wise nor constitutionally required.” Id.

CONCLUSION

 For the foregoing reasons, the Court should reject the New York State Restaurant Association’s request to invalidate New York City Health Code Regulation 81.50. 

Respectfully submitted, 

/s/ Deepak Gupta

DEEPAK GUPTA

BRIAN WOLFMAN

ADINA H. ROSENBAUM

PUBLIC CITIZEN 

LITIGATION GROUP 

1600 20th Street, NW 

Washington, DC 20009 

(202) 588-1000

 

/s/ Stephen Gardner

STEPHEN GARDNER (SG-3964) 

CENTER FOR SCIENCE 

IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST 

5646 Milton Street, Suite 211 

Dallas, TX 75206 

(214) 827-2774 

 /s/ Kevin C. Mallon

KEVIN C. MALLON (KCM-4798) 

FISHMAN & NEIL, LLP 

305 Broadway, Suite 900 

New York, NY 10007 

(212) 897-5840 

July 16, 2007 Counsel for Amici Curiae

Case 1:07-cv-05710-RJH Document 26-2 Filed 07/16/2007 Page 37 of 61
i

APPENDIX LISTING AMICI CURIAE 

This brief is submitted on behalf of the following amici: 

U.S. Representative Henry Waxman was the chief sponsor of the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act (NLEA) in the U.S. House of Representatives and has long been a 

leader in Congress on nutrition and food policy issues. He has represented California’s 30th 

District since 1974 and is currently the Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and 

Government Reform, which has oversight authority over all federal agencies, including the 

U.S. Food and Drug Administration. 

David A. Kessler, M.D., was appointed Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug 

Administration by President George H.W. Bush in 1990. He was sworn in as Commissioner 

on the same day that President Bush signed the NLEA into law, was reappointed by President 

Clinton, and served through 1997, when he became Dean of the Yale School of Medicine. 

Dr. Kessler is currently Dean and Vice Chancellor for Medical Affairs at the University of 

California, San Francisco. Prior to his tenure at FDA, Dr. Kessler, who is also a lawyer, was a 

lecturer in food and drug law at Columbia Law School. 

Public Citizen is a non-profit consumer advocacy organization with a longstanding 

interest in fighting exaggerated claims of federal preemption of state health and safety 

regulation and defending consumers’ rights to know information that affects their health. 

Public Citizen’s lawyers have represented parties and amici in the most significant federal 

preemption cases, see e.g., Riegel v. Medtronic, -- S.Ct. --, cert. granted, June 25, 2007; Bates v. Dow 

Agrosciences, 544 U.S. 431, 449 (2005); Medtronic v. Lohr, 518 U.S. 470 (1996), and have also 

argued several seminal cases involving the commercial speech doctrine, see e.g., Va. State Bd. of 

Pharmacy v. Va. Citizens Consumer Council, 425 U.S. 748 (1976); Zauderer v. Office of Disciplinary 

Counsel, 471 U.S. 626 (1985); Edenfield v. Fane, 507 U.S. 761 (1993). 

Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) is a national, non-profit advocacy 

organization for nutrition and health, food safety, and sound science. CSPI’s advocacy was 

instrumental in getting Congress to consider nutrition labeling legislation in 1989 and in 

securing passage of the NLEA in 1990, and CSPI has tirelessly advocated for effective FDA 

enforcement of the NLEA in the seventeen years since its enactment. In addition, CSPI led 

the advocacy efforts on behalf of New York City’s restaurant calorie labeling rule last year, 

and is working with other cities and states across the nation on similar measures. 

The American Medical Association, an Illinois non-profit corporation, is the largest 

professional association of physicians and medical students in the United States. The AMA 

was founded in 1847 to promote the science and art of medicine and the betterment of public 

health, and these still remain its core purposes. Its members practice in every state, including 

New York, and in every specialty. In June 2007, the AMA, concerned by the alarming 

incidence of obesity and of obesity-related medical conditions, specifically resolved that calorie 

Case 1:07-cv-05710-RJH Document 26-2 Filed 07/16/2007 Page 38 of 61
ii

content, in addition to other nutrition information, be displayed on menus and menu boards 

in fast-food and other chain restaurants.12 

The American College of Preventive Medicine, established in 1954, is the national 

professional society for physicians committed to disease prevention and health promotion. 

To address the lack of nutrition labeling and the rising obesity rates in adults and children, 

ACPM introduced the menu-labeling resolution that was passed by the AMA’s House of 

Delegates last month. 

The American Diabetes Association is a nationwide non-profit organization 

founded in 1940 to advance the interests of the now nearly 21 million Americans with 

diabetes. ADA’s mission is to prevent and cure diabetes and to improve the lives of all people 

affected by diabetes. It is the nation’s leading voluntary health organization supporting 

diabetes research, information and advocacy. ADA believes that providing calorie information available through postings on menu boards is a critical step in helping people get the 

information they need to understand how foods they eat impact their weight and overall 

nutrition goals. 

The American Public Health Association is the oldest, largest and most diverse organization of public health professionals in the world and has been working to improve public 

health since 1872. The Association aims to protect all Americans and their communities from 

preventable, serious health threats. APHA believes that requiring nutrition labeling at fastfood and other chain restaurants is particularly important given how many of our calories are 

consumed at restaurants, the large portion sizes and high calorie contents often served at 

restaurants, and the lack of nutrition information at restaurants. 

California Center for Public Health Advocacy is a non-profit organization established in 1999 by California’s two public health associations to raise awareness about critical 

public health issues and is currently the lead supporter of a bill before the California State 

Legislature to require nutrition labeling on menus and menu boards in chain restaurants. 

 

The Medical Society of the State of New York, an organization of approximately 

30,000 licensed physicians, medical residents, and medical students in New York State, is 

committed to representing the medical profession as a whole and advocating on its behalf 

concerning health-related rights, responsibilities, and issues. 

Trust for America’s Health is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to 

saving lives by protecting the health of every community and working to make disease 

prevention a national priority. 

 12 The AMA and Medical Society of the State of New York join this brief both in their 

own persons and as representatives of the Litigation Center of the American Medical 

Association and the State Medical Societies. The Litigation Center was formed in 1995 as a 

coalition of the AMA and private, voluntary, nonprofit state medical societies to represent the 

views of organized medicine in the courts.

Case 1:07-cv-05710-RJH Document 26-2 Filed 07/16/2007 Page 39 of 61
iii

George L. Blackburn, M.D., Ph.D., holds the S. Daniel Abraham Chair in Nutrition 

Medicine at Harvard Medical School, where his research focuses on obesity and clinical 

nutrition. He is also the Chief of the Nutrition Laboratory and Director of the Center for the 

Study of Nutrition Medicine at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston. 

Richard J. Deckelbaum, M.D., is the Robert R. Williams Professor of Nutrition, 

Chairman of the Institute of Human Nutrition, and Professor of Pediatrics and Epidemiology 

at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health and College of Physicians and 

Surgeons, where his research focuses on translating basic nutritional questions into lipid and 

cellular biology. 

Penny M. Kris-Etherton, Ph.D., is Distinguished Professor of Nutrition at Pennsylvania State University, where her research focuses on effects of diet on metabolism and 

platelet function. 

Francine R. Kaufman, M.D., is Director of the Comprehensive Childhood Diabetes 

Center at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and Professor of Pediatrics at the University of 

Southern California School of Medicine. She is an expert on childhood diabetes-obesity 

epidemic and the author of Diabesity (2005). 

Alice H. Lichtenstein, D.Sc., is the Stanley N. Gershoff Professor of Nutrition Science and Policy and Professor of Public Health and Family Medicine at Tufts University, as 

well as Senior Scientist and Director of the Cardiovascular Nutrition Laboratory at the Jean 

Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging. Her research examines the effect 

of diet on disease risk factors. 

Marion Nestle, Ph.D., M.P.H., is the Paulette Goddard Professor of Nutrition, 

Food Studies, and Public Health at New York University, where her research focuses on the 

role of food marketing as a determinant of dietary choice. Her books include Food Politics: 

How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health (2002, revised 2007); and What to Eat (2006). 

 

Barry M. Popkin, Ph.D., is the Carla Steel Chamblee Distinguished Professor of 

Global Nutrition at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, where he directs the 

Interdisciplinary Center for Obesity and the Division of Nutrition Epidemiology and studies 

dynamic changes in diet, physical activity, and body composition, with a focus on rapid 

changes in obesity. 

Walter Willett, M.D., M.P.H., Dr.P.H., is the Fredrick John Stare Professor of 

Epidemiology and Nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health, Professor of Medicine at 

Harvard Medical School, and the author of Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy: The Harvard Medical 

School Guide to Healthy Eating. He is also one of the principal investigators on the Nurses 

Health Study, one of the largest, long-term studies to look at the effect of diet on health. 

Case 1:07-cv-05710-RJH Document 26-2 Filed 07/16/2007 Page 40 of 61
iv

APPENDIX OF STATUTORY AND REGULATORY PROVISIONS 

24 RCNY Health Code Reg. § 81.50. Calorie labeling. 

(a) Scope and applicability. This section shall apply to menu items that are served in 

portions the size and content of which are standardized and for which calorie content 

information is made publicly available on or after March 1, 2007, by or on behalf of 

the food service establishment serving the items. 

(b) Calorie information for menu items. Food service establishments shall post on 

menu boards and menus the calorie content values (in kcal) that have been made publicly available as specified in subdivision (a) for each menu item next to the listing of 

each menu item. Posted calorie content shall be calculated in accordance with 21 CFR 

§ 101.9(c)(1)(i) or its successor regulation. Subject to prior approval by the Department, food service establishments may use alternative means for making calorie information available to patrons, provided such information is made available at the 

point of purchase and is at least as prominent as required in paragraph (1) below. 

(1) Menu boards and menus. The term “calories” or “cal” shall appear as a heading 

above a column listing the calorie content value of each menu item, or adjacent to the 

calorie content value for each menu item, in the same or larger typeface as the calorie 

content values for individual menu items. 

(A) Menu boards. On menu boards, calorie content values shall be posted in a size and 

typeface at least as large as the name of the menu item or price, whichever is larger. 

(B) Menus. On printed menus, calorie content values shall be legible and shall be 

printed in a size and typeface at least as large as the name or price of the menu item. 

 

(2) Range of calorie content values for different flavors and varieties. For menu items 

that come in different flavors and varieties but that are listed as a single menu item, including, but not limited to, beverages, ice cream, pizza or doughnuts, the range of 

calorie content values showing the minimum to maximum numbers of calories for all 

flavors or varieties of that item shall be listed on menu boards and menus for each size 

offered for sale. 

(c) Effective date. This section shall take effect on July 1, 2007.

21 U.S.C. § 343. Misbranded food. 

A food shall be deemed to be misbranded-- 

21 U.S.C. § 343(q). Nutrition information 

(1) Except as provided in subparagraphs (3), (4), and (5), if it is a food intended for 

human consumption and is offered for sale, unless its label or labeling bears nutrition 

information that provides-- 

Case 1:07-cv-05710-RJH Document 26-2 Filed 07/16/2007 Page 41 of 61
v

* * * 

(C) the total number of calories-- 

(i) derived from any source, and 

(ii) derived from the total fat, 

in each serving size or other unit of measure of the food, 

* * * 

(5)(A) Subparagraphs (1), (2), (3), and (4) shall not apply to food— 

(i) which is served in restaurants or other establishments in which food is 

served for immediate human consumption or which is sold for sale or use in 

such establishments[.] 

21 U.S.C. § 343(r). Nutrition levels and health-related claims

(1) Except as provided in clauses (A) through (C) of subparagraph (5), if it is a food 

intended for human consumption which is offered for sale and for which a claim is 

made in the label or labeling of the food which expressly or by implication-- 

(A) characterizes the level of any nutrient which is of the type required by 

paragraph (q)(1) or (q)(2) to be in the label or labeling of the food unless the 

claim is made in accordance with subparagraph (2), or 

(B) characterizes the relationship of any nutrient which is of the type required 

by paragraph (q)(1) or (q)(2) to be in the label or labeling of the food to a disease or a health-related condition unless the claim is made in accordance with 

subparagraph (3) or (5)(D). 

A statement of the type required by paragraph (q) of this section that appears as part 

of the nutrition information required or permitted by such paragraph is not a claim 

which is subject to this paragraph and a claim subject to clause (A) is not subject to 

clause (B). 

(2)(A) Except as provided in subparagraphs (4)(A)(ii) and (4)(A)(iii) and clauses (A) 

through (C) of subparagraph (5), a claim described in subparagraph (1)(A)-- 

(i) may be made only if the characterization of the level made in the claim uses terms 

which are defined in regulations of the Secretary[.] 

21 U.S.C. §§ 343-1. National uniform nutrition labeling 

(a) Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, no State or political subdivision of a State may directly or indirectly establish under any authority or continue in 

effect as to any food in interstate commerce— 

Case 1:07-cv-05710-RJH Document 26-2 Filed 07/16/2007 Page 42 of 61
vi

* * * 

(4) any requirement for nutrition labeling of food that is not identical to the 

requirement of section 343(q) of this title, except a requirement for nutrition 

labeling of food which is exempt under subclause (i) or (ii) of section 

343(q)(5)(A) of this title, or 

(5) any requirement respecting any claim of the type described in section 

343(r)(1) of this title, made in the label or labeling of food that is not identical 

to the requirement of section 343(r) of this title, except a requirement respecting a claim made in the label or labeling of food which is exempt under section 

343(r)(5)(B) of this title. 

21 U.S.C. § 343-1, note 

The Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 1990 shall not be construed to preempt 

any provision of State law, unless such provision is expressly preempted under section 

403A [21 U.S.C. 343-1(a)] of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. 

21 C.F.R. 101.10. Nutrition labeling of restaurant foods. 

Nutrition labeling in accordance with § 101.9 shall be provided upon request for any 

restaurant food or meal for which a nutrient content claim (as defined in § 101.13 or in 

subpart D of this part) or a health claim (as defined in § 101.14 and permitted by a 

regulation in subpart E of this part) is made, except that information on the nutrient 

amounts that are the basis for the claim (e.g., “low fat, this meal provides less than 10 

grams of fat”) may serve as the functional equivalent of complete nutrition information as described in § 101.9. Nutrient levels may be determined by nutrient data bases, 

cookbooks, or analyses or by other reasonable bases that provide assurance that the 

food or meal meets the nutrient requirements for the claim. Presentation of nutrition 

labeling may be in various forms, including those provided in § 101.45 and other reasonable means. 

21 C.F.R. 101.13. Nutrition content claims—General principles 

(a) This section and the regulations in subpart D of this part apply to foods that are intended for human consumption and that are offered for sale, including conventional 

foods and dietary supplements. 

(b) A claim that expressly or implicitly characterizes the level of a nutrient of the type 

required to be in nutrition labeling under § 101.9 or under § 101.36 (that is, a nutrient 

content claim) may not be made on the label or in labeling of foods unless the claim is 

made in accordance with this regulation and with the applicable regulations in subpart 

D of this part or in part 105 or part 107 of this chapter. 

(1) An expressed nutrient content claim is any direct statement about the level 

(or range) of a nutrient in the food, e.g., “low sodium” or “contains 100 calories.” 

Case 1:07-cv-05710-RJH Document 26-2 Filed 07/16/2007 Page 43 of 61
vii

(2) An implied nutrient content claim is any claim that: 

(i) Describes the food or an ingredient therein in a manner that suggests that a nutrient is absent or present in a certain amount (e.g., “high 

in oat bran”); or 

(ii) Suggests that the food, because of its nutrient content, may be useful in maintaining healthy dietary practices and is made in association 

with an explicit claim or statement about a nutrient (e.g., “healthy, contains 3 grams (g) of fat”). 

* * * 

(i) Except as provided in § 101.9 or § 101.36, as applicable, or in paragraph (q)(3) of 

this section, the label or labeling of a product may contain a statement about the 

amount or percentage of a nutrient if: 

* * * 

(3) The statement does not in any way implicitly characterize the level of the 

nutrient in the food and it is not false or misleading in any respect (e.g., “100 

calories” or “5 grams of fat”), in which case no disclaimer is required. 

21 C.F.R. 101.60. Nutrient content claims for the calorie content of foods. 

(a) General requirements. A claim about the calorie or sugar content of a food may only 

be made on the label or in the labeling of a food if: 

(1) The claim uses one of the terms defined in this section in accordance with 

the definition for that term; 

(2) The claim is made in accordance with the general requirements for nutrient 

content claims in § 101.13; 

(3) The food for which the claim is made is labeled in accordance with § 101.9, 

§ 101.10, or § 101.36, as applicable; and 

(4) For dietary supplements, claims regarding calories may not be made on 

products that meet the criteria in § 101.60(b)(1) or (b)(2) for “calorie free” or 

“low calorie” claims except when an equivalent amount of a similar dietary 

supplement (e.g., another protein supplement) that the labeled food resembles 

and for which it substitutes, normally exceeds the definition for “low calorie” 

in § 101.60(b)(2). 

(b) Calorie content claims. (1) The terms “calorie free,” “free of calories,” “no calories,” 

“zero calories,” “without calories,” “trivial source of calories,” “negligible source of 

calories,” or “dietarily insignificant source of calories” may be used on the label or in 

the labeling of foods, provided that: 

(i) The food contains less than 5 calories per reference amount customarily 

consumed and per labeled serving. 

(ii) As required in § 101.13(e)(2), if the food meets this condition without the 

benefit of special processing, alteration, formulation, or reformulation to lower 

the caloric content, it is labeled to disclose that calories are not usually present 

in the food (e.g., “cider vinegar, a calorie free food”). 

Case 1:07-cv-05710-RJH Document 26-2 Filed 07/16/2007 Page 44 of 61
viii

(2) The terms “low calorie,” “few calories,” “contains a small amount of calories,” 

“low source of calories,” or “low in calories” may be used on the label or in labeling of 

foods, except meal products as defined in § 101.13(l) and main dish products as defined in § 101.13(m), provided that: 

(i)(A) The food has a reference amount customarily consumed greater than 30 

grams (g) or greater than 2 tablespoons and does not provide more than 40 

calories per reference amount customarily consumed; or 

(B) The food has a reference amount customarily consumed of 30 g or less or 

2 tablespoons or less and does not provide more than 40 calories per reference 

amount customarily consumed and, except for sugar substitutes, per 50 g (for 

dehydrated foods that must be reconstituted before typical consumption with 

water or a diluent containing an insignificant amount, as defined in § 

101.9(f)(1), of all nutrients per reference amount customarily consumed, the 

per 50 g criterion refers to the “as prepared” form). 

(ii) If a food meets these conditions without the benefit of special processing, 

alteration, formulation, or reformulation to vary the caloric content, it is labeled to clearly refer to all foods of its type and not merely to the particular 

brand to which the label attaches (e.g., “celery, a low calorie food”). 

(3) The terms defined in paragraph (b)(2) of this section may be used on the label or in 

labeling of meal products as defined in § 101.13(l) or main dish products as defined in 

§ 101.13(m), provided that: 

(i) The product contains 120 calories or less per 100 g; and 

(ii) If the product meets this condition without the benefit of special processing, alteration, formulation, or reformulation to lower the calorie content, it is 

labeled to clearly refer to all foods of its type and not merely to the particular 

brand to which it attaches. 

(4) The terms “reduced calorie,” “reduced in calories,” “calorie reduced,” “fewer calories,” “lower calorie,” or “lower in calories” may be used on the label or in the labeling 

of foods, except as limited by § 101.13(j)(1)(i) and except meal products as defined in § 

101.13(l) and main dish products as defined in § 101.13(m), provided that: 

(i) The food contains at least 25 percent fewer calories per reference amount 

customarily consumed than an appropriate reference food as described in § 

101.13(j)(1); and 

(ii) As required in § 101.13(j)(2) for relative claims: 

(A) The identity of the reference food and the percent (or fraction) 

that the calories differ between the two foods are declared in immediate proximity to the most prominent such claim (e.g., reduced calorie 

cupcakes “33 1/3 percent fewer calories than regular cupcakes”); and 

(B) Quantitative information comparing the level of the nutrient per 

labeled serving size with that of the reference food that it replaces (e.g., 

“Calorie content has been reduced from 150 to 100 calories per serving.”) is declared adjacent to the most prominent claim or to the nutrition label, except that if the nutrition label is on the information panel, 

the quantitative information may be located elsewhere on the information panel in accordance with § 101.2. 

Case 1:07-cv-05710-RJH Document 26-2 Filed 07/16/2007 Page 45 of 61
ix

(iii) Claims described in paragraph (b)(4) of this section may not be made on 

the label or labeling of foods if the reference food meets the definition for 

“low calorie.” 

(5) The terms defined in paragraph (b)(4) of this section may be used on the label or in 

the labeling of meal products as defined in § 101.13(l) and main dish products as defined in § 101.13(m), provided that: 

(i) The food contains at least 25 percent fewer calories per 100 g of food than 

an appropriate reference food as described in § 101.13(j)(1); and 

(ii) As required in § 101.13(j)(2) for relative claims: 

(A) The identity of the reference food and the percent (or fraction) 

that the calories differ between the two foods are declared in immediate proximity to the most prominent such claim (e.g., Larry’s Reduced 

Calorie Lasagna, “25 percent fewer calories per oz (or 3 oz) than our 

regular Lasagna”); and 

(B) Quantitative information comparing the level of the nutrient in the 

product per specified weight with that of the reference food that it replaces (e.g., “Calorie content has been reduced from 108 calories per 3 

oz to 83 calories per 3 oz.”) is declared adjacent to the most prominent 

claim or to the nutrition label, except that if the nutrition label is on 

the information panel, the quantitative information may be located 

elsewhere on the information panel in accordance with § 101.2. 

(iii) Claims described in paragraph (b)(5) of this section may not be made on 

the label or labeling of food if the reference food meets the definition for “low 

calorie.” 

Case 1:07-cv-05710-RJH Document 26-2 Filed 07/16/2007 Page 46 of 61
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH ANDHUMAN SERVICES

APR 14 200B

Michael E. Jacobson, Ph.D.

Executive Director

Center for Science in the Public Interest

1875 Connecticut Avenue, NW

Suite 300

Washington, DC 20009-5728

Dear Dr. Jacobson:

Public Health Service

Food and Drug Administration

College Park, MD 20740

This is in response to your letter dated March 14, 2006 to the Food and Drug

Administration (FDA). In this letter, you urge the FDA to take prompt action to halt

misleading trans fat claims on foods that contain significant levels ofsaturated fat. You

state these claims are misleading under section 403(a) and 201(n) ofthe Federal Food,

Drug and Cosmetic Act (the Act). You state that FDA withdrew definitions for nutrient

content claims for trans fat (68 FR 41434) and simultaneously issued an Advanced

Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) to solicit information and data that could be

used to establish new nutrient content claims about trans fat.

As examples, you list food products that state "Og trans fat" (or similar statements) on the

principal display panel while the Nutrition Facts panel declares an appreciable amount of

saturated fat (i.e., 7g, 11g, 4g, 5g, 6g). You refer to these statements (i.e., "Og trans fat")

as claims. You further state that consumers expect that a product labeled with these

statements to be free ofsaturated fat.

You are correct that there are no approved nutrient content claims for trans fat. As

explained in the ANPRM that issued July 11, 2003 (68 FR 41507), the level ofscientific

evidence does not currently support the establishment of an appropriate reference value

for daily consumption of trans fat; therefore, FDA withdrew the proposed definitions for

trans fat free, reduced trans fat, and limits on the amount oftrans fat wherever saturated

fat limits are placed on nutrient content claims. The ANPRM, in part, solicited

information and data that potentially could be used to establish new nutrient content

claims for trans fat. FDA supports consumer testing to ensure that any claims about

trans fat, alone or in combination with other nutrients, such as saturated fat and

cholesterol, provides meaningful guidance to consumers and drives the market in a

nutritionally beneficial direction. Thus, FDA plans to conduct consumer research in the

future to evaluate consumer understanding of "trans fat free" and "reduced trans fat"

Case 1:07-cv-05710-RJH Document 26-2 Filed 07/16/2007 Page 47 of 61
Page 2 - Michael E. Jacobson, Ph.D.

nutrient content claims on product with varying nutritional characteristics (i.e., saturated

fat, cholesterol). However, as noted in the ANPRM (at page 41509), if a company wants

to make a statement about the fat content of a product that is demonstrably true, balanced,

adequately substantiated, and not misleading, FDA would consider the exercise ofits

enforcement discretion. The FDA has not received any such request or information.

While nutrient content claims for trans fat are being considered, the label or labeling may

contain a factual statement about the amount or percentage of a nutrient in accordance

with 21 CFR 101.13(i)(3). The use ofthis kind offactual statement should not in any

way imply that there is a little or a lot of the nutrient in the food and is not false or

misleading under section 403(a) ofthe Act. For example, "Og trans fat" and "2g trans

fat" are appropriate when, in fact, the Nutrition Facts panel represents the same amount.

The use of a percentage is moot since there is no percent Daily Value (%DV) for trans

fat. The use of descriptive words, such as "only" or "contains," would implicitly

characterize the level ofthe nutrient for which there is no definition. A claim that

expressly or implicitly characterizes the level of a nutrient may not be made on the label

or in labeling offoods unless the claim is made in accordance with the regulations (21

CFR 101.13(b)). As mentioned above, there are no approved claims for trans fat that

characterize the level.

The "Ogtrans fat" statements presented in your letter are considered factual statements,

rather than nutrient content claims, in accordance with § 101.13(i)(3) and the products are

not considered misbranded under the Act. In the future, FDA hopes to develop trans fat

nutrient content claims based on evolving science and the results of consumer research to

provide meaningful guidance to consumers for choosing healthy foods.

s~

Barbara O. Schneeman, Ph.D.

Director

Office ofNutritional Products, Labeling

and Dietary Supplements

Case 1:07-cv-05710-RJH Document 26-2 Filed 07/16/2007 Page 48 of 61
Case 1:07-cv-05710-RJH Document 26-2 Filed 07/16/2007 Page 49 of 61
Case 1:07-cv-05710-RJH Document 26-2 Filed 07/16/2007 Page 50 of 61
Case 1:07-cv-05710-RJH Document 26-2 Filed 07/16/2007 Page 51 of 61
Case 1:07-cv-05710-RJH Document 26-2 Filed 07/16/2007 Page 52 of 61
Case 1:07-cv-05710-RJH Document 26-2 Filed 07/16/2007 Page 53 of 61
Case 1:07-cv-05710-RJH Document 26-2 Filed 07/16/2007 Page 54 of 61
Case 1:07-cv-05710-RJH Document 26-2 Filed 07/16/2007 Page 55 of 61
Case 1:07-cv-05710-RJH Document 26-2 Filed 07/16/2007 Page 56 of 61
Case 1:07-cv-05710-RJH Document 26-2 Filed 07/16/2007 Page 57 of 61
Case 1:07-cv-05710-RJH Document 26-2 Filed 07/16/2007 Page 58 of 61
Case 1:07-cv-05710-RJH Document 26-2 Filed 07/16/2007 Page 59 of 61
Case 1:07-cv-05710-RJH Document 26-2 Filed 07/16/2007 Page 60 of 61
Case 1:07-cv-05710-RJH Document 26-2 Filed 07/16/2007 Page 61 of 61