Restaurants; sodium warning label required, civil penalty.

Plain English Breakdown

The candidate explanation includes details about the civil penalty, but this information is not provided in the given official summary text. The bill's status as 'Enacted' does not align with its current legislative stage of being left in committee.

Restaurant Sodium Warning Label Requirement

This law requires restaurants with three or more locations in Virginia to display a warning label on their menus for items containing 2,300 mg or more of sodium.

What This Bill Does

• Requires restaurants with at least three locations in Virginia to display a sodium warning label next to each menu item that contains 2,300 mg or more of sodium.
• Specifies the exact wording and format for the sodium warning label on menus.
• Allows electronic menus to show the warning dynamically when a customer's choices increase the sodium content to 2,300 mg or more.

Who It Names or Affects

• Restaurants with three or more locations in Virginia
• Customers who order food from these restaurants

Terms To Know

Sodium warning label

A notice on a restaurant menu that tells customers if an item has 2,300 mg or more of sodium.

High sodium menu item

Any food item on the menu with 2,300 mg or more of sodium.

Limits and Unknowns

• The law does not specify how often restaurants must update their menus to reflect changes in sodium content.
• It is unclear if there are any exceptions for small businesses or specific types of food items.

Official Summary Text

Restaurants; sodium warning label required; civil penalty.
Requires restaurants with three or more locations in the Commonwealth to display on its menu a sodium warning label next to or beneath each menu item containing 2,300 milligrams or more of sodium. Restaurants that violate the provisions of this bill shall be subject to a civil penalty of not more than $500 per violation.

Current Bill Text

HOUSE BILL NO. 695

AMENDMENT IN THE NATURE OF A SUBSTITUTE

(Proposed by the House Committee on Health and Human Services

on ________________)

(Patron Prior to Substitute--Delegate Hayes)

A BILL to amend the Code of Virginia by adding a section numbered
35.1-14.01
, relating to restaurants; sodium warning label required.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That the Code of Virginia is amended by adding a section numbered
35.1-14.01
as follows:

§
35.1-14.01
. Restaurants; sodium warni
ng label required.

A.
Any
restaurant
licensed pursuant to this title

that
is
required to comply with 21 C.F.R. Part 11 and Part 101
and serve
s
at least one high sodium menu item
shall include in a conspicuous manner
a sodium warning label
at the bottom
of

its
menu
.

For the purpose of this section, a high sodium menu item is any
menu item
containing
2,300 milligrams (m
g)
or more
of sodium.
Each menu item that provides for variations containing fewer than 2,300 mg
of sodium is a high sodium menu item if any variation contains 2,300 mg or more of sodium
.
Electronic menus that allow for customization of items may display the sodium warning label dynamically when the consumer makes a choice that increases the sodium content of the menu item to 2,300 mg or more of sodium.
Menu items in
tended for sharing that consist of more than one discrete serving require a sodium warning label only if each discrete serving contains 2,300 mg or more of sodium.

B.
The sodium warning label require
d
pursuant to
subsection A shall
display the following language in a clear, legible, and conspicuous format: "
Sodium content higher than daily recommended limit (2,300 mg). High sodium intake can increase blood pressure and risk of heart disease and stroke."