WASHINGTON – (NewsBlaze) — The third most burdensome statutory regulatory requirement of food labeling included in the new Obamacare law was enough to send restaurateur Mary Lynne Carraway to the doors of Washington’s Heritage Foundation to plead for relief from policy makers.
Carraway, the owner of 60 Dominos Pizza franchises in the Washington area spoke tearfully at times at the think tank’s noontime Tuesday Blogger’s Briefing. Carraway took over the franchises after health problems her husband was incurring.
“I do like to see people happy” Carraway noted as the invited journalistic scribes munched on pizza provided by her. “People that have worked for me have [gone] on to law school and have [gone] on to be accountants”
Food Labeling Laws Crush Pizza
However, since Dominos Pizza offers a pizza connoisseur 34 million different possible pizza combinations, food labeling laws may make Carraway’s business take a major hit. Estimates by the Food and Drug Administration peg the new rule at a cost of $537 million in the first year. Industry experts put at a much higher cost of a $1 billion.
According to research discovered by the Heritage Foundation, such labeling laws which had the goal of healthy eating actually caused people to order more unhealthy choices. In 2008, New York University and Yale University researchers collected receipts of New York City consumers and found more calories were ordered after the truth in labeling laws were in effect.
The rule also affects grocery stores that only have one percent of their establishment devoted to deli counter and only establishments with more than twenty locations.
Carraway questioned the whole scheme by saying “How many times have you walked into a Dominos Pizza store to look at the menu boards?” She noted that even her daughters walking into a panera bread store wouldn’t even factor food labels into their food choices.
Dominos Pizza counters the government regulation by noting that they offer internet calorie counters for their consumers, and Carraway mentioned that 60% of her orders are coming from cyberspace. “We’re not fighting the calorie counts.” noted Carraway even in opposition to the government’s rule.
Pizza establishments are also subject to forces other than government regulation. Carraway noted that she had to deal with loss of employees, even this week, and had people shot at in her stores.
Legislators Working On Possible Fix
Policymakers on Capitol Hill are working on a fix to Carraway’s plight in the form of H.R. 1249 which is supported by Rep. John Carter and Rep. Henry Cuellar, that would rein in the Food and Drug Administration.
Carraway concluded her remarks tearfully at Heritage by recounting the story of how her neighbors came to help her husband by providing a row of benches so he could get to the end of the street. “We’re all in need of benches” Carraway remarked in pleading for relief from the new government rule.
