Vending Machine Industry: Compliance Time For Calorie Disclosure Requirement Is “Absurd”

A new report from the FDA has the vending machine industry in a snit. The report estimates that the industry will have to spend 14 million hours a year to keep their seven million machines in compliance with a calorie disclosure law that went into effect in March 2010. The law requires operators with 20 or more locations to place a sign near each food item in a machine disclosing the calorie count. The law applies to chain restaurants with 20 or more locations as well, but their efforts are mostly confined to the set-up phase, while the process is ongoing with vending machines because items are rotated frequently. A spokesman for the vending machine industry called the time needed to comply “absurd” and is “sure to kill jobs.”