Vending Machines to Display Calorie Counts in 2014

by William White | December 31, 2013 11:17 am

Vending machines won’t just be flashing “65 cents” or “$1.50” anymore — as of next year, they’ll also be required to display calorie counts.

The change to vending machines is one of the provisions of Obamacare. In 2014, the machines will be required to have a calorie count menu[1] like what is currently shown in many restaurants (and will be required in the future).

The hope is that these changes will help more people keep one of the most popular of New Year’s resolutions — losing weight.

But not everyone is happy about the change.

The new provision won’t be cheap for the vending machine operators that peddle products from the likes of Coca-Cola (KO[2]), PepsiCo (PEP[3]) and Dr Pepper Snapple (DPS[4]) — they’ll now be expected to spend large sums on the calorie counts. The FDA estimates that the vending machine industry will spend $25.8 million to implement the change at first, as well as $24 million annually after that, CNN reports.

“It is outrageous for us to have to do this on all our equipment,” Carol Brennan, owner of Brennan Food Vending Services, told ABC News[5]. “How many people have not read a label on a candy bar? If you’re concerned about it, you’ve already read it for years.”

Source URL: https://investorplace.com/2013/12/vending-machines-display-calorie-counts-2014/

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