Calories of Pizza, Other Restaurant Food Officially Unknown Until 2016

The government is trying to decrease the number of obesity cases in America, as it has become a national pandemic.

According to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), 68.8 percent of adult aged 20 and older fall under the overweight category while 31.8 percent of kids aged 2-19 fall under the same category.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), for one, is making sure that consumers are more aware of what they are eating by making food calorie counts available on menus. However, NY Times reports that the FDA has delayed the calorie count policy by a year.

The change in deadline was decided after the FDA determined that food companies need more time to comply. 

Among those who have been struggling with the calorie count policy is chairwoman of the American Pizza Community, Lynn Liddle. According to her, restaurants will need time to calculate the amount of calories contained in the food they serve and then make new changes to the menu board in all their franchises to display the calorie count.

However, according to NY Times, the FDA itself is also contributing to the delay, as it has not yet given clear guidelines on how to implement the calorie count policy.

Among the confusion which ensued, as noted by CBS News, is the guideline on which foods need to be labelled and which ones are exempted. The guideline stated that prepared food must contain calorie information, except if it was intended for more than one person. This means that chickens sold by pieces in a tray must have a label but those that are sold in buckets are exempted.

Besides food, beverages sold must also be labelled, including alcoholic beverages. For this, all drinks that are available on the menu need to be labelled except for mix drinks make by the bartender.

The new rule, announced in 2015, requires fast food chains and restaurants with more than 20 branches to announce calorie counts of certain items in their menu. Among restaurants set to be involved with this are Domino's Pizza, Subway, KFC, and several other.

The move is considered as a stepping stone to curb the nation's obesity problem. By combating obesity, other related diseases such as heart disease, stroke and gout will be slowly reduced too.