New FDA Regulations Have Local Restaurants Worried

Small business owners are crying foul over new FDA regulations.

Under an ObamaCare mandate, all restaurants must provide nutritional information on menus and food labels.

The FDA has extended that regulation to include grocery stores and small businesses.

Stores must now provide nutritional information on salad bars, soups, bakery goods, and other small packaged items.

This news is causing some small businesses, like River Nile in Dothan, to worry about how they can afford to comply with new regulations.

According to Rob Sowell, the manager at the restaurant, paying for the printed nutrition information will put a strain on an already tight budget.

"That is going to require a lot of testing to get the information required for the mandate. That cost will be passed on to the customer. With property margins already so narrow, that is going to make it harder on small businesses, especially restaurants," said Sowell.

To cut costs, Sowell said restaurants will have to make creative swaps in food. "If we have to start having to cut back on quality products, or start using lower calorie products, the product isn't going to be the same, so we'll lose our identity."

Sowell also said this regulation is an extension of an overreaching government, and it's the people's responsibility to educate themselves on their food choices, not the FDA's.

Sowell said he and other business owners will be contacting their state representatives to voice their concerns over these regulations.