President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul law requires calorie information to be displayed on roughly 5 million vending machines in the nation. The Food and Drug Administration said the move will “assist consumers in making healthier dietary choices.” A little over 10,000 companies that have 20 or more vending machines will affected by the new regulations, and will have about a year to comply.
But a local vending machine merchant isn’t thrilled about the change.
“It’s going to make a lot of work,”said Jeff Metzger, CEO of American Value Vending. “We’re not happy about it.”
American Value Vending offers snack and soda vending machines, as well as coffee units. Metzger said his company uses Fit Pick to enable customers to make smart choices.
According to its website, Fit Pick’s nutritional criteria are based on the recommendations of the American Heart Association, the 2005 USDA Dietary Guidelines for Americans and the Alliance for a Healthier Generation. Labels on products indicate which products have no more than 35 percent of total calories from fat, 10 percent of calories from saturated fat and 35 percent of total product weight from sugar.
Metzger felt that the additional guidelines were unnecessary. He said his business has been exploring ways to meet the requirements, but have not come up with anything concrete yet.
“My feeling is that someone that is watching calories or is watching their diet … they are already are aware of what’s in the (candy) bar,” he said.
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