MENU EDUCATION & LABELING ACT

Creates the Menu Education and Labeling Act of 2004. Provides that restaurants and similar retail food establishments shall obtain nutritional information from an independent nutrition testing laboratory and shall use analytic methods and express nutrient content in a manner consistent with the Illinois Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. Provides that menu items that come in different flavors and varieties but are listed as a single menu item shall be listed on menus and menu boards. Requires the Department of Public Health to issue regulations to implement the Act. Provides that the regulations shall require information to be conveyed to the public in a manner that enables the public to readily observe and comprehend the information and understand its relative significance in the context of a total daily diet. Provides that nothing in the Act shall preclude restaurants and similar food establishments from voluntarily providing additional nutritional information. Amends the Illinois Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. Provides that a food shall be misbranded if it is a standard menu item offered by a restaurant or similar food establishment, unless the menu lists next to each item, in a size and typeface similar to other information about each item, nutritional information, including, but not limited to, the total number of: (1) calories; (2) grams of saturated fat plus trans fat; (3) grams of carbohydrates; and (4) milligrams of sodium per serving, as usually prepared and offered for sale. Limits the nutritional information required to be made available if the restaurant or similar retail food establishment uses only a menu board, provides a salad bar, buffet line, cafeteria service, or similar self-serve arrangement.