I 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2426 
To amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to extend the food 
labeling requirements of the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 
1990 to enable customers to make informed choices about the nutritional 
content of standard menu items in large chain restaurants. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 14, 2009 
Ms. DELAURO (for herself, Mr. WAXMAN, Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California, 
Ms. ESHOO, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. BRALEY of Iowa, 
Mr. ENGEL, Mr. HINCHEY, Mr. FILNER, Mr. SARBANES, Ms. WOOLSEY, 
Mrs. CAPPS, Ms. KAPTUR, Ms. WATSON, Mr. CUMMINGS, Mr. KIND, Mr. 
GENE GREEN of Texas, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Ms. LEE of California, Ms. 
SUTTON, Mr. MORAN of Virginia, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. 
BRADY of Pennsylvania, Ms. CASTOR of Florida, Mr. COURTNEY, Mr. 
DELAHUNT, Mr. BUTTERFIELD, Mr. CAPUANO, Mr. LARSON of Con-
necticut, Ms. MATSUI, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of Cali-
fornia, and Mr. MURPHY of Connecticut) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to 
extend the food labeling requirements of the Nutrition 
Labeling and Education Act of 1990 to enable customers 
to make informed choices about the nutritional content 
of standard menu items in large chain restaurants. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Menu Education and 
Labeling Act’’ or the ‘‘ MEAL Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds that— 
(1) research continues to reveal that— 
(A) there is a strong link between diet and 
health; and 
(B) diet-related diseases start early in life; 
(2)(A) increased caloric intake is a key factor 
contributing to the alarming increase in obesity in 
the United States; 
(B) Americans’ average calorie intake increased 
by approximately 200 calories per day between 1977 
and 1996, with restaurant and fast food accounting 
for the fastest growing source of those calories; 
(C) according to the Centers for Disease Con-
trol and Prevention, 2⁄3 of American adults is over-
weight or obese, and an estimated 34 percent of chil-
dren and adolescents aged 2 to 19 is overweight or 
obese; 
(D) obesity increases the risk of diabetes, heart 
disease, stroke, several types of cancer, and other 
health problems; and 
(E) the annual cost of obesity to families, busi-
nesses, and governments in the United States is 
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$123,000,000,000, half of which is paid through 
Medicare and Medicaid; 
(3) over the past 2 decades, there has been a 
significant increase in the number of meals prepared 
or eaten outside the home, with an estimated 1⁄3 of 
calories and almost half of total food dollars being 
spent on food purchased from or eaten at res-
taurants and other food-service establishments; 
(4) studies link eating outside the home with 
obesity and higher caloric intakes, and children eat 
almost twice as many calories when they eat a meal 
at a restaurant compared to a meal they eat at 
home; 
(5)(A) excess saturated fat intake is a major 
risk factor for heart disease, which is the leading 
cause of death in the United States; and 
(B) heart disease is a leading cause of disability 
among working adults and its impact on the United 
States economy is significant, estimated in 2008 to 
total $156,400,000,000 in healthcare expenditures 
and lost productivity; 
(6)(A) 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; and 
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(B) the proportion of adults with high blood 
pressure is 45 percent at age 50, 60 percent at age 
60, and more than 70 percent at age 70; 
(7) the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act 
of 1990 (Public Law 101–535) requires food manu-
facturers to provide nutrition information on almost 
all packaged foods; however, restaurant foods are ex-
empt from those requirements unless a nutrient con-
tent or health claim is made for a menu item; 
(8)(A) about 75 percent of adults reports using 
food labels on packaged foods, which is associated 
with eating more healthful diets, and approximately 
half of adults reports that the nutrition information 
on food labels has caused them to change their 
minds about buying a food product; and 
(B) studies have shown that the provision of 
nutrition information for away-from-home foods has 
a positive influence on food purchase decisions; 
(9) an important benefit of mandatory nutrition 
labeling on packaged foods has been the reformula-
tion of existing products and the introduction of 
new, nutritionally-improved products, such as trans 
fat labeling on packaged food that led many pack-
aged food companies to reformulate their products 
to remove trans fat; 
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(10)(A) because people have a right to informa-
tion, companies are required to provide information 
regarding the fuel-efficiency of automobiles, what 
clothes are made of, care instructions for clothing, 
and energy and water consumption of certain home 
appliances; and 
(B) people need nutritional information to man-
age their weight and reduce the risk of, or manage, 
heart disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure, 
which are leading causes of death, disability, and 
high health care costs; 
(11)(A) it is difficult for consumers to exercise 
personal responsibility and limit their intake of cal-
ories at restaurants, given the limited availability of 
nutrition information at the point of ordering in res-
taurants; 
(B) standard portion sizes in fast food and 
chain restaurants have grown since the 1970s; and 
(C) several studies show that people are unable 
to identify from among popular fast food and other 
chain restaurant menu items those items with the 
fewest, and those items with the most, calories; 
(12) the Food and Drug Administration, Sur-
geon General, Department of Health and Human 
Services, National Cancer Institute, Institute of 
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Medicine of the National Academies, American Dia-
betes Association, American Heart Association, and 
American Medical Association recommend that there 
be increased availability of nutrition information for 
foods eaten and prepared away from home; and 
(13) menu labeling policies have been intro-
duced in more than 30 States and localities, and 
menu labeling policies have passed in California; 
New York City; Multnomah County (Portland), Or-
egon; King County (Seattle), Washington; and 
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 
SEC. 3. NUTRITION LABELING OF STANDARD MENU ITEMS 
AT CHAIN RESTAURANTS AND OF ARTICLES 
OF FOOD SOLD FROM VENDING MACHINES. 
(a) LABELING REQUIREMENTS.—Section 403(q)(5) 
of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 
343(q)(5)) is amended by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(H) RESTAURANTS, RETAIL FOOD ESTABLISH-
MENTS, AND VENDING MACHINES.— 
‘‘(i) 
GENERAL
REQUIREMENTS
FOR
RES-
TAURANTS AND SIMILAR RETAIL FOOD ESTABLISH-
MENTS.—Except for food described in subclause 
(vii), in the case of food that is a menu item that 
is served, processed, or prepared in a restaurant or 
similar retail food establishment that is part of a 
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chain with 20 or more locations doing business 
under the same name (regardless of the type of own-
ership of the locations) and offering for sale sub-
stantially the same menu items the restaurant or es-
tablishment shall disclose the information described 
in subclauses (ii) and (iii). 
‘‘(ii) INFORMATION
REQUIRED
TO
BE
DIS-
CLOSED BY RESTAURANTS AND RETAIL FOOD ES-
TABLISHMENTS.—Except as provided in subclause 
(vii), the restaurant or similar retail food establish-
ment shall disclose in a clear and conspicuous man-
ner— 
‘‘(I)(aa) in a statement adjacent to the 
name of the standard menu item, so as to be 
clearly associated with the standard menu item, 
on any menu listing the item for sale— 
‘‘(AA) the number of calories; 
‘‘(BB) grams of saturated fat plus 
trans fat; 
‘‘(CC) grams of carbohydrate; and 
‘‘(DD) milligrams of sodium, 
per standard menu item, as usually pre-
pared and offered for sale; and 
‘‘(bb) information, specified by the Sec-
retary by regulation, provided in a prominent 
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location on the menu and designed to enable 
the public to understand, in the context of a 
total daily diet, the significance of the nutrition 
information that is provided, such as rec-
ommended daily limits for calories, saturated 
fat, and sodium; 
‘‘(II) in a statement adjacent to the name of 
the standard menu item, so as to be clearly associ-
ated with the standard menu item, on any menu 
board, including a drive-through menu board or 
other sign listing the item for sale— 
‘‘(aa) the number of calories con-
tained in the menu item, as usually pre-
pared and offered for sale; 
‘‘(bb) notification that the information 
required by subitem (aa) of item (I) is 
available in writing at the point of order-
ing; and 
‘‘(cc) information, specified by the 
Secretary by regulation and posted promi-
nently on the menu board, designed to en-
able the public to understand, in the con-
text of a total daily diet, the significance of 
the nutrition information that is provided. 
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