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A1855
ASSEMBLY, No. 1855
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
222nd LEGISLATURE
�
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2026 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman JAMES J. KENNEDY
District 22 (Somerset and Union)
SYNOPSIS
���� Requires certain restaurant chains to provide sodium
information for items offered for sale.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
���� Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative
Counsel.
��
An Act
concerning retail food establishments and supplementing
Title 26 of the Revised Statutes.
����
Be It
Enacted
by the Senate and General Assembly of
the State of New Jersey:
���� 1.��� As used in this act:
����� �Combination meal� means a
standard menu item that consists of more than one food item. A combination meal
may be represented on a menu or menu board in narrative form, numerically, or
pictorially, and may include a variable menu item as defined in this section,
where the components vary and the customer selects which components will be
included in the meal.
���� �Food on display� means food
that is visible to the customer before the customer makes a selection, provided
there is not an ordinary expectation of further preparation by the customer
before consumption.
���� �High sodium content� means
any standard menu item or combination meal offered by a retail food
establishment which contains 2,300 mg or more of sodium.
���� �Menu� means a printed list of
the names or images of an individual food item, beverage item, or combination
of food items, and the primary writing of a retail food establishment from
which a customer makes an order selection including, but not limited to,
breakfast, lunch, and dinner menus; dessert menus; beverage menus; children�s
menus; and other specialty menus; and may be in various forms, including
booklets, pamphlets, single sheets of paper, or electronic.
���� �Menu board� means a menu
posted inside the retail food establishment as well as a menu posted outside a
retail food establishment.
���� �Point of purchase� means any
place where a customer may order food within a retail food establishment.
���� �Retail food establishment�
means a restaurant that is part of a chain with 20 or more locations nationally
doing business under the same trade name or under common ownership or control
or as franchised outlets of a parent business, the principal activity of which
consists of preparing a food item or beverage item, including any combination
meal, for consumption.
���� 2.��� A retail food
establishment in this State that offers for sale any food item or beverage
item, including any combination meal, with high sodium content shall display a
warning. The warning shall be displayed in the following manner:
���� a. An icon shall appear on a
menu or menu board next to a food item or beverage item, including any
combination meal, with high sodium content, or on a tag next to any food item
or beverage item, including any combination meal, with high sodium content; and
���� b.��� The icon shall be a
black and white equilateral triangle as wide as it is tall and equal in height
to the largest letter in the name of the food item or beverage item, as
displayed on the menu or menu board, or tag next to any food item or beverage
item on display;
���� In addition, the following
statement shall be posted conspicuously at the point of purchase: �This icon
indicates that the sodium content of this item is higher than the total daily
recommended limit (2,300 mg). High sodium intake may increase blood pressure
and risk of heart disease and stroke.�
���� 3.��� A proprietor of a retail
food establishment who violates the provisions of this act by failing to
provide the information about a food item or beverage item, including any
combination meal, as required in section 2 of P.L.��� , c.�� (c.������� )
(pending before the Legislature as this bill), or knowingly misstating the
sodium content in any food item or beverage item, including any combination
meal, shall be subject to a penalty of not less than $50 or more than $100 for
the first offense, and not less than $250 or more than $500 for the second or
any subsequent offense.� A municipal court shall have jurisdiction over
proceedings to enforce and collect any penalty imposed because of a violation
of this act, if the violation has occurred within the territorial jurisdiction
of the court.� The proceedings shall be summary and in accordance with the
"Penalty Enforcement Law of 1999," P.L.1999, c.274 (C.2A:58-10 et
seq.).� Process shall be in the nature of a summons or warrant and shall issue
only at the suit of the Commissioner of Health, or the local board of health,
as the case may be, as plaintiff.
���� When the plaintiff is the
Commissioner of Health, the penalty recovered shall be paid by the commissioner
into the treasury of the State.� When the plaintiff is a local board of health,
the penalty recovered shall be paid by the local board into the treasury of the
municipality where the violation occurred.
���� a.���� The provisions of this
act shall not be construed to create or enhance any claim, right of action, or
civil liability that did not previously exist under State law or limit any
claim, right of action, or civil liability that otherwise exists under State law.
���� b.��� There shall be no
private right of action against the proprietor of a retail food establishment
for failure to comply with the provisions of this act.
���� c.���� This act supersedes and
preempts all ordinances of any county or municipality with regard to requiring
retail food establishments to provide warnings concerning sodium content.
���� 4.��� The Commissioner of
Health shall adopt rules and regulations, pursuant to the �Administrative
Procedure Act,� P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), to effectuate the
purposes of this act.
���� 5.��� This act shall take
effect on the first day of the thirteenth month after the date of enactment,
except the Commissioner of Health may take any anticipatory administrative
action in advance as shall be necessary for the implementation of this act.
STATEMENT
���� This bill requires certain
restaurant chains to provide sodium information for a food item or beverage
item, including combination meals, offered for sale.
���� While nutrition labeling is
currently required on processed and packaged foods, this requirement does not
apply in the same manner to retail food establishments in New Jersey. This bill
defines �retail food establishment� as a restaurant that is part of a chain
with 20 or more locations nationally doing business under a parent business or
as part of a franchised outlet such as a fast food or chain restaurant.�
���� Currently, retail food
establishments are only required to provide nutrition information when a health
claim is made for a food or beverage option on the menu. For example, fast food
restaurants typically make nutrition information available to consumers only
upon request through brochures or on corporate Internet sites, while some other
restaurants may disclose the nutrition information of their menus only via the
Internet, if at all.
���� According to the U.S. Food and
Drug Administration, about 75 percent of dietary sodium comes from eating
packaged and restaurant foods, whereas only a small portion, 11 percent, comes
from salt added to food when cooking or eating. Despite myriad efforts and
initiatives to curb sodium consumption by public health and other
organizations, the sodium content of fast food, in particular, appears to be on
the rise.