On pizza regulations, Trump slices differently than his own FDA commissioner

www.washingtonexaminer.com ^ | April 24, 2018 12:00 AM | by Jim Gerety

[Red Badger]

Unlike other food establishments that have static menu options, pizza is highly variable: Domino’s offers consumers 34 million different combinations of pizza. (iStock Photo)

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As the owner of 18 Domino’s stores in Texas, I do not cut corners, whether on pizzas or complying with the law. Unfortunately, on May 7 the law will become especially burdensome and unhelpful to my customers. That day, President Trump’s FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb will implement a nationwide, Obama-era menu-labeling rule requiring restaurants with 20 or more locations to post in-store menu boards listing the calories of every item sold.

I fully support efforts to ensure consumers have access to nutritional information, and my customers deserve accurate information delivered to them at the point of sale. I would not have lasted 36 years in this industry and succeeded as a Domino’s franchisee over the past 20 if I were working against the interests of my customers. At the same time, small business owners like me deserve a fair accounting of the rule’s costs. But the rule as codified by Gottlieb fails on both counts, and Trump must direct Gottlieb to fix the rule before it goes into effect.

First, the rule fails to account for how my customers actually order pizza in the real world out here in West Texas. Unlike other food establishments that have static menu options, pizza is highly variable: Domino’s offers consumers 34 million different combinations of pizza.

Can you imagine yourself in a small store in Midland or Odessa, Texas, plastered with menu boards, trying to calculate all of these possible combinations?

In addition, Domino’s customers do 90 percent of their ordering remotely — either online (Web and app) or by phone. I estimate that I will have to spend approximately $5,000 annually per store to put up compliant menu boards. I’m talking possibly $90,000 to invest in signage that less than 10 percent of my customers actually will see, and less than that actually will use.

Second, the costs of the rule to my employees and me could be excessive, with the greatest beneficiaries of these costs being trial lawyers. This is because Gottlieb’s rule exposes my employees and me to civil and criminal penalties of up to one year in prison and/or a $100,000 fine for inadvertent violations.

That means if one of us accidentally tops a pizza with too much pepperoni or cheese, or is a little heavy-handed with the tomato sauce on a given day, we could be headed to prison.

I know many supporters of the rule would argue that’s an outrageous claim, but FDA has offered no information or clarity except: “Trust us.”

So, what’s a sensible solution that works for both small businesses and consumers?

Domino’s came up with an initial answer more than a decade ago by providing an online tool, the Cal-O-Meter, that allows consumers to calculate the calories in a pizza, accounting for factors like the crust type, number of toppings, and sauce. While this useful application is provided to consumers at the point of purchase and fulfills the intent of the law, FDA for years has said that an online menu accessed by consumers on their smartphones, tablets, and computers won’t meet the Obama administration’s standard (which the agency apparently is keeping under Trump).

Last November, Gottlieb issued new guidance on the rule that he claimed would make things clear. Unfortunately, it only made things more convoluted.

Now my employees and I need Trump to weigh in. He needs to direct the FDA to give us the flexibility to use 21st century technology to provide our customers with accurate nutritional information, right at their fingertips. The Common Sense Nutrition Disclosure Act, which overwhelmingly passed the House twice, both last year and earlier this year, enjoys broad, bipartisan support and should be the basis for FDA action.

I was pleased when the Trump administration delayed implementation of this rule last May because it seemed to understand, and signaled it wanted to think through, the complexities this one-size-fits-all solution poses to businesses like mine.

Now, I am disappointed. In the name of expediency, Gottlieb is working at cross-purposes with Trump’s efforts to unshackle Main Street from the burdens of unnecessary, outmoded, and counterproductive regulations.

President Trump has the power to stop his FDA and Commissioner Gottlieb from going over the regulatory cliff. Millions of small businesses that drive our economy every day are watching and waiting.

[wally_bert]

Give me liberty or give me pizza pie - Shaggy.

[Abathar]

Dominoes could do this easily for him. All the entries are put in via computer now anyway, writing the software to compute it while they give the order and have it at their fingertips when the order is placed.

All this just in case some bothersome worrywart wants to sweat whether it’s fattening or not. (It is, trust me)

Hell, a cheap laptop with all of the options available right there in the lobby so they can look it up on their site (or ask a kid who works there to do it for them if they’re computer illiterate) would still be an cheap option wouldn’t it?

[Kickass Conservative]

>>>Pizza contributes to Climate Change<<<

Pizza OVENS contribute to Climate Change.

Pizza CAUSED FLATULENCE contribute to Climate Change.

[Red Badger]

.....and a diet coke.....................

[Dr. Sivana]

Chain franchises who make and sell pizza really suck. Particularly Dominoes, Papa John's, Little Caesar's, and Cisi's.

I grew up in Connecticut, where (a)pizza is taken VERY seriously. That said, there is a place for the Domino's and Little Caesars of this world.

Years ago, Tom Monaghan said he wasn't in the pizza business, but in the pizza delivery business. Little Caesar's can feed a small family for $5 and change when the ma and pa place that makes a good pie would charge triple. I have been in cities where Pizza Hut made a better pizza than the awful cardboard producing local operations. In some cases, people travelling don't want to take chances and will take fast, clean and mediocre.

Even bad pizza can be pretty good. There are also some premium chains that still aren't as good as superior ma-and-pa outlets, but at least use high quality ingredients.

[Red Badger]

Blasphemy!.............I wish I’d thought of it...............

[Rebelbase]

LOL! I forgot.

[Red Badger]

Like everything they do, the government invokes the Commerce Clause to maintain their power................

[Rusty0604]

You have freedom to choose where you get your pizza, but that’s not what this article is all about.

[PapaBear3625]

If you win, I'll vote for the constitutional amendment to allow them to do that because I like food labels. I think Congress was traitorous when they removed the country of origin labels.

It wasn't Congress, it was the World Trade Organization, and they didn't just REMOVE country labels, they PROHIBITED them. Businesses are no longer allowed to put labels identifying country of origin, as it might result in discrimination against products from Mexico and elsewhere. I think the big push on this came from China.

[GailA]

And 2 slices of just plain old chain store Pepperoni pizza will have your morning Blood Sugar at 170.

[plain talk]

Actually our local Walmart neighborhood store has these $8 super-size pizzas that I get occasionally. They are fresh not frozen and basically the equivalent of two pizzas. Not bad.

I don’t understand why Trump’s guys are implementing these stupid assinine Obama regulations.

[Red Badger]

But would it satisfy the Feds?...................

[blackdog]

Pizza hut to me is Salad Hut. They have a good salad bar. So I spared them on the pizza review.

[blackdog]

I know what the article is about, but I also know what it will become. Pizza is art. Very personal art. I know where this thread shall head.

[eldoradude]

We should probably be thankful that the Dems were booted out of office before this went from mandatory calory counts to mandatory calorie limits, or taxes (for our own good) on any orders exceeding certain calorie limits.

Not at all an exaggeration. Baseline caloric regulation and taxation of the excess...going to the general fund of course.

[Trillian]

I just make mine at home, no problem. In the last two weeks I’ve made stuffed crust with bacon and just cheese on a pizza stone, Sicilian pizza and I tried a new idea for garlic bread pizza as well.

[Red Badger]

garlic bread pizza!..................better trademark it!.................

[NorthMountain]

Now, can you point to the Article and Section of the US Constitution that gives the Feds the specific enumerated power to enforce this idiot rule?

It isn't there. It doesn't exist.

And that's the heart of the problem. Fedzilla is unconstitutional.

[Lurker]

“If you win, I’ll vote for the constitutional amendment to allow them to do that because I like food labels.”

Then let the market provide labels of their own volition for those like you who want them. Otherwise why don’t you get behind the founder of this esteemed forum and work to return Fedziilla to the Constitutional prison our Founders designed for it.

L