Nutrition Archives - HealthVendUS

The $141M Impact of Vending Labeling Requirements

buildthis_admin — Wed, 22 Jan 2014 15:29:02 +0000

FDA issuing final rule for vending items to be labeled with calorie information

Part of the effort to promote transparency for consumers covered in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act calls for caloric value to be “clearly and predominately” displayed for all vending machine items sold by operators of more than 20 machines, “on or in the same field of vision as the food items in the machine.”

In addition to the calorie information labeling, the proposed rules will require that consumers are provided information like calories from fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, trans fat, sodium, carbs, sugars, dietary fiber, and protein – in written form – upon request.

Who will be affected?

The proposals indicate all operators with more than 20 machines will be required to comply; and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) concedes that “the proposed rule would have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small

[businesses].”

According to documents from the FDA, “In the case of the proposed rule, FDA estimates that there would be approximately 10,800 operators under the proposed requirements, controlling between 4 million and 5.6 million machines that sell covered vending machine foods.”

What are the estimated costs of compliance?

The FDA speculates that the estimated cost of compliance could be as much as $141.4 Million annualized over ten years at a 3% discount rate. Although their impact analysis says “[The] FDA estimates that average per machine costs are less than $10 annually,” my math (using an estimate of 4.8 million affected vending machines and those FDA cost estimates) shows a range of $5-$29.40 average per machine, depending on which of the proposed regulatory options for the Rule are employed.[quote style=”boxed” float=”right”]The money that would be spent to comply with this — there’s no return on the investment[/quote] Eric Dell, National Automatic Merchandising Association’s (NAMA’s) VP of government affairs claims that compliance could cost operators an initial investment of $2400 and another $2200 annually. “The money that would be spent to comply with this — there’s no return on the investment,” says Dell.

How long do I have?

The proposed rule calls for a one-year grace period once the FDA finalizes and publishes the rules for covered vending machines; NAMA is calling for two years for the vending industry to comply, as well as other flexibility within the rules. Although many snack food and beverage operators consider vending operators a lower priority market segment, some brands have taken proactive steps to label the front of their single-serve packages with calorie counts, including SmartFries, Michael Seasons, GuS sodas, and YogaVive.

A late December AP article has brought a lot of attention to these proposed regulations, and the vending industry has been vocal. However, as of right now, the FDA is still in the midst of its rulemaking process and are reportedly still reviewing and responding to over 900 public comments on the proposed rules and effective dates. The public comment period is now closed, but we’d love to hear your feedback.

–Would knowing that a Snickers bar, a can of Coke, and a bag of Doritos is 539 calories deter you from buying them from a machine?

–Would you be more likely to buy something you’ve never tried before if it said it was only 80 calories?

–How do you think this will impact your vending business?

The post The $141M Impact of Vending Labeling Requirements appeared first on HealthVendUS.

Happy National School Lunch Week! Read More…

buildthis_admin — Thu, 10 Oct 2013 19:42:08 +0000

To honor this occasion, I recently volunteered to help out during lunch service at my local elementary school. The whole week the school was introducing the kids to lesser known fruits and vegetables. I was assigned kumquats. It was so much fun teaching these kids (and even a couple lunch ladies) about their background, health benefits, and explaining how they are supposed to eat the rind. This was a small thing for the school and community to put together for the children, that (I hope) will make a lasting impression on the K-5th children I had the pleasure of meeting with.

We’re starting to see a lot of this kind of change in our schools, and I’m excited to see the impact. Here is an article from MomsRising.org from earlier this week:

Changing the Conversation about School Food

Posted October 9th, 2013 by Jessica Donze Black

This week marks an important turning point in the conversation about school food. On Monday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced that 80 percent of schools are serving healthier meals that meet the nutrition standards—just one year after they were established. But USDA wasn’t the only organization sharing good news. In addition, former President Bill Clinton honored 267 of the healthiest schools in the nation participating in the Alliance for a Healthier Generation’s Healthy Schools Program. What’s even better is that thousands more schools in the Alliance’s program are meeting or exceeding the updated school food nutrition standards.

All of this good news stems from USDA in 2012 updating its school meal nutrition standards, calling for increased servings of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, with less fat, sodium, and sugar. But there’s more to this than the menu. A report released by the Kids’ Safe and Healthful Foods Project regarding schools’ ability to serve healthy meals found that 94 percent of school districts surveyed last year said they could meet the updated nutrition standards by the end of the 2012-2013 academic year.

According to a new report, “Serving Healthy School Meals: Despite challenges, schools meet USDA nutrition requirements,” 91 percent of districts not surprisingly faced some challenges along the way, such as access to affordable food, training, and equipment. Specifically:

> One-third of school districts reported that their current kitchen equipment makes it difficult to serve healthier foods.

> Nearly two-thirds indicated that training staff to serve healthy, safe, and appealing foods was a challenge to meeting the updated meal standards.

> One-quarter faced challenges related to infrastructure, such as electrical and plumbing capacity.

Despite these challenges, the recent data show that most schools can serve healthy meals. Thousands of real-life examples, such as those from El Monte, CA, and Cincinnati, OH, are proof.

Now is the time to help our schools overcome the challenges they face and ensure that all students have safe and healthy meals every day. As parents, we can get this conversation started. Reach out to your school food service director and ask about their needs and how you can help. Together, parents, business leaders, and community members can make it easier for our kids to eat nutritious foods that they’ll enjoy.

I encourage you to read more and join the conversation about healthful snacking at public schools, private schools, and school districts at: http://www.momsrising.org/blog/changing-the-conversation-about-school-food/#ixzz2i0fRQrdi

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