BILL REQ. #:  H-5420.1 

READ FIRST TIME 02/11/08.   

     AN ACT Relating to the availability of nutrition information; and creating a new section.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   (1) The legislature finds and declares that:
     (a) Over the past two decades, there has been a significant increase in the number of meals prepared or eaten outside the home, with an estimated one-third of calories and almost half of total food dollars associated with food obtained from restaurants and other food service establishments;
     (b) Broader availability of nutrition information regarding foods served at restaurants and other food service establishments will facilitate consumers making more informed decisions about the food they purchase;
     (c) Three-quarters of American adults report using food labels on packaged foods, which are required by the nutrition labeling and education act of 1990;
     (d) Availability of nutrition information regarding restaurant food assists consumers who closely monitor their diet;
     (e) Due to substantial variations in restaurant characteristics, restaurants have used a variety of methods to provide broad nutrition information that their customers desire;
     (f) Providing accurate nutrition information for food prepared in restaurants is significantly more difficult than for processed food items because of greater variability of portion size, formulation, and other characteristics of the restaurant food product and the processes used to produce it;
     (g) In implementing the federal nutrition labeling and education act of 1990, the United States food and drug administration recognized the need for accuracy in nutrition information statements and addressed the challenges of determining restaurant food product nutrition information by permitting nutrition information for such products to be determined with a reasonable basis;
     (h) Notwithstanding the substantial variability of nutrition characteristics of standard food items served at restaurants and other food service establishments, public health will be advanced by providing nutrition information, determined with a reasonable basis, for standard food items generally available at restaurants; and
     (i) Restaurants and other food service establishments generally are more likely to provide nutrition information regarding food items, if there is not a threat of conflicting or overlapping governmental requirements for disclosure of nutrition information, or vulnerability to frivolous litigation regarding the accuracy of disclosure of nutrition information.
     (2) The legislature intends to provide consumers with greater access to nutrition information regarding restaurant foods by (a) recognizing that nutrition information determined with a reasonable basis is appropriately accurate, and (b) allowing restaurants reasonable flexibility in providing nutrition information to consumers.