I 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3444
To amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to ensure that con-
sumers receive information about the nutritional content of restaurant 
foods. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
NOVEMBER 5, 2003
Ms. DELAURO (for herself, Mr. WAXMAN, Mr. BROWN of Ohio, Ms. ESHOO, 
Mr. EMANUEL, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Mrs. JONES of Ohio, and 
Mr. OWENS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to 
ensure that consumers receive information about the nu-
tritional content of restaurant foods.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; REFERENCES. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Menu Education and Labeling Act’’. 
(b) REFERENCES.—Whenever in this Act an amend-
ment or repeal is expressed in terms of an amendment 
to, or repeal of, a section or other provision, the reference
shall be considered to be made to a section or other provi-
sion of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds as follows: 
(1) Research continues to reveal the strong link 
between diet and health, and that diet-related dis-
eases start early in life. 
(2) Increased caloric intake is a key factor con-
tributing to the alarming increase in obesity in the 
United States. According to the Centers for Disease 
Control and Prevention, two-thirds of American 
adults are overweight or obese, and the rates of obe-
sity have doubled in children and tripled in teens 
since 1980. Obesity increases the risk of diabetes, 
heart disease, stroke, and other health problems. 
Each year obesity costs families, businesses, and 
governments $117 billion. 
(3) Excess saturated fat intake is a major risk 
factor for heart disease, which is the leading cause 
of death in the United States. While it is often 
thought to primarily affect men and older people, 
cardiovascular disease is the leading killer of women 
and kills 61,000 people between the ages of 45 and 
64 each year. Heart disease is also a leading cause 
of disability among working adults and its impact on
the U.S. economy is significant, estimated in 2001 
to total $298 billion in health care expenditures and 
lost productivity. 
(4) Increased sodium intake is associated with 
increased risk of high blood pressure, or hyper-
tension, a condition that can lead to cardiovascular 
disease, especially stroke. The proportion of Ameri-
cans with high blood pressure is 45 percent at age 
50, 60 percent at age 60, and over 70 percent at age 
70. 
(5) Over the past two decades, there has been 
a significant increase in the number of meals pre-
pared and/or eaten outside the home, with an esti-
mated one-third of calories and almost half (46 per-
cent) of total food dollars being spent on food pur-
chased from and/or eaten at restaurants and other 
food-service establishments. 
(6) While nutrition labeling is currently re-
quired on most processed foods, such information is 
required only for restaurant foods for which nutrient 
content or health claims are made. 
(7) Three-quarters of American adults report 
using food labels on packaged foods, which are re-
quired by the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act 
of 1990. Using food labels is associated with eating