FDA delays ObamaCare’s menu labeling rule

The Food and Drug Administration is delaying a controversial ObamaCare rule that requires restaurants to list the number of calories in the food they sell.

Restaurants and grocery stores will not have to comply with the contentious new rule until after the 2016 presidential election — at which time a Republican president could choose to scrap the rule altogether.

The controversial menu labeling requirements issued late last year would require major restaurants and grocery stores to calorie counts.

But the rules have generated bipartisan blowback on Capitol Hill.

The FDA’s delay comes amid fierce pressure from Congress to back down from the rules.

The menu labeling requirements came under attack from Congress as lawmakers on both sides of the aisle called for more time for businesses to comply with the rule.

Lawmakers sought to delay the menu labeling requirements through a spending bill provision that would have pushed the effective date back to Dec. 1, 2016.

Reps. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) and Loretta Sanchez (D-Calif.) also introduced stand-alone legislation that would have done the same thing.

Meanwhile, dozens of senators led by Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.) also asked for more time.

The FDA announced the delay Thursday morning. Businesses will have until Dec. 1, 2016, to comply.