Pizza Lobby

Grocery store owners and pizza chains were among the biggest critics of the rules, and won significant concessions.

Pizza franchises initially balked at determining calorie counts for 34 million combinations of pizza toppings, Jenny Fouracre, director of legislative affairs for Domino’s Pizza Inc., said on behalf of the American Pizza Community, the Washington-based lobby for pizza sellers.

Under the final rules, pizza chains will be able to post a range of calories for their items on menu boards. They won’t have to list the calorie count for every topping and will only have to post calorie counts online for delivery-only stores instead of on menu boards there.

The FDA received about 1,100 comments from interest groups, companies and citizens on the draft rules. “There was a lot of interest and a lot of input,” Hamburg told reporters yesterday on a conference call. “We’ve tried to be flexible and realistic as we’ve put together these final rules.”

Deli Counter

Grocery stores were concerned that calculating and posting calories would curtail offerings in their fresh prepared foods sections, because the offerings are constantly changing. Testing and labeling them all could have cost the industry as much as $1 billion, Rob Rosado, director of government relations with the Food Marketing Institute, an Arlington, Virginia-based lobby for grocery stores.

Also exempt are foods like sliced cheese, meat and other items from the deli stand that are meant to be shared or prepared. Salad and hot bars in grocery stores still must list calorie information.

Restaurants have generally accepted that labeling calories on their menus is necessary and that national standards are best, said Scott DeFife, executive vice president for policy and government affairs at the National Restaurant Association.