Vending

FDA relaxes calorie disclosure for vending machines during COVID-19

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May 27, 2020

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently announced a temporary policy to allow flexibility around calorie disclosure for vending during COVID-19, according to a press release. 

"The FDA is providing temporary flexibility for the vending machine industry and will not object if operators do not meet vending machine labeling requirements to provide calorie information for foods sold in the vending machines at this time," the release stated.

Some vending machine operators may need to temporarily move vending machines to different locations where essential workers are working and there may be temporary disruptions in the vended food supply chain which, in turn, affects the availability of standard vending machine items, the release noted.

"Some vending machine operators may experience staffing issues which affects their ability to update or revise displays," the release said. "Other vending machine operators may experience difficulties in replacing stock, necessitating product substitutions using products that lack front of package calorie information." 

These situations may impact a vending machine operator’s ability to declare accurate calorie information for those vending machine foods without making corresponding labeling or signage changes, according to the temporary policy. 

This action follows ongoing correspondence submitted by the National Automatic Merchandising Association on behalf of the industry to FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn, in April.

For an update on how the coronavirus pandemic has affected convenience services, click here.