New York's restaurant industry won a victory in court yesterday when a federal judge ruled that the city's fast food restaurants may not be forced to list nutritional information on their menu boards. For now.
Judge Richard Holwell found in favor of the New York State Restaurant Association, which had sued the New York City Department of Health over a regulation dating to last December requiring fast-food restaurants who already made their nutritional information available elsewhere to post it on menu boards.
The judge found that the new rule went beyond a 1990 federal regulation that already required the disclosure of nutritional information and therefore is preempted by federal law.
The Health Department is expected come back and try to get the labels posted again. "We are confident that calorie labeling can be legally mandated by the City and will help New Yorkers be better informed and make healthier choices,” said the Department in a statement.