Sec. 1. 22 MRSA §2502 is enacted to read:

§2502.__Nutrition information

Beginning July 1, 2004, a restaurant, which for the purposes of this section means a restaurant licensed as an eating establishment under chapter 562, that is identified with a restaurant chain having 20 or more locations under the same name nationally, regardless of the type of ownership of the restaurant locations, shall provide nutrition information for all food and drink items sold in the eating establishment as follows.

1.__Menu boards.__Caloric information must be provided on menu boards in restaurants in which menu boards are displayed.__ The size and arrangement and typeface of the caloric information must be similar to and as easy to read as other menu board information, and the nutrition information must be displayed adjacent to the listing of the food item.

2.__Menus.__The information must be provided on menus in restaurants in which menus are used.__The size and arrangement and typeface of the nutrition information must be similar in size of type-face to other information about each menu item.__ The nutrition information must be similar to the categories of nutrition information provided on packaged foods sold in grocery stores and must be displayed adjacent to the listing of the food item.

3.__Packaging.__The information must be provided on wrappers and boxes used to deliver particular items of food and drink to customers.__The size and arrangement and typeface of the nutrition information must be similar to that of nutrition information provided on packaged foods sold in grocery stores.

4.__Restaurants without menus.__Restaurants without menus must display menu boards on the walls, with at least one menu board that can be read from 12 feet away for each entrance.__ The menu board must meet the requirements of subsection 1 but contain the information specified in subsection 2 or 3.

Sec. 2. Rules regarding nutrition information. By December 31, 2003, the Department of Human Services, Bureau of Health shall adopt rules regarding the provision of nutrition information in restaurants required by the State. Rules adopted pursuant to this section are routine technical rules as defined in the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 5, chapter 375, subchapter 2-A.