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Committee adopts amendment and approves Caffeine Safety Act to require menu warnings
Summary
The committee approved HB 2377, the Caffeine Safety Act, and adopted an amendment raising the menu-warning threshold from 80 mg to 250 mg of caffeine; sponsor cited a campus fatality to argue for clearer consumer notice on heavily caffeinated beverages.
The committee considered House Bill 2377, the "Caffeine Safety Act," which would require retail food facilities to display a high-caffeine warning on menus next to beverages that meet a specified caffeine threshold. Staff summarized the bill and an amendment (A03702) that raised the disclosure trigger from 80 milligrams to 250 milligrams of caffeine.
Representative Bakkerty described a University of Pennsylvania student death in 2022 linked to a highly caffeinated beverage and said the measure is intended to provide notice to susceptible consumers. “This legislation is about notice,” Bakkerty said, adding that the requirement targets larger retail operators and that he is willing to work on compliance with smaller establishments.
Members acknowledged the tragedy underlying the bill and raised compliance concerns for smaller vendors; the amendment increasing the threshold to 250 mg passed, the amendment was adopted, and the bill passed the committee as recorded in the transcript.
