In a move intended to improve the health of Americans, a New York City-led initiative has shaken up the food service and packaged goods industries with an ambitious, but voluntary, salt reduction plan.
The National Salt Initiative, the result of a partnership between states, municipalities and national health organizations, on Monday, January 11 unveiled its proposed targets to guide restaurants and packaged food manufacturers toward a decrease in sodium.
The initiative, working off statistics that put the onus on the food industry instead of the consumer, developed two- and four-year targets to reduce salt levels in 86 categories of packaged goods and restaurant food. The foods range from canned chili and barbecue sauce to breaded seafood and burritos.
According to the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH), only 11 percent of Americans’ sodium intake comes from their own saltshakers, while close to 80 percent comes from foods in which high levels of sodium already exist before purchase.
“Consumers can always add salt to food, but they can’t take it out,” DOHMH Commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley said in a statement, underscoring sodium-related health risks like high blood pressure, heart disease and stroke. Twenty-three thousand New Yorkers – and more than 800,000 Americans – lose their lives to those conditions every year, the DOHMH said.
The proposed four-year targets, which include sodium reductions of up to roughly 35 percent for classes of packaged foods and up to around 25 percent for restaurant categories, were the result of a yearlong series of meetings with food industry leaders. Targets are posted at nyc.gov/health/salt, and the food industry, consumer organizations and other interested parties have until February 1 to comment. The initiative will adopt final targets in the spring.
Because of the voluntary nature of the reductions, and the fact that industry insiders were included in the planning, the New York State Restaurant Association (NYSRA) is applauding the initiative.
“The focus on this for the most part is not the chef in the back of the restaurant,” explained Rob Bookman, NYSRA’s New York City legislative counsel, who noted that chain eateries and manufacturers would have to take greater action to comply than non-chain restaurants.
The industry is pleased overall, Bookman said, since the National Salt Initiative does not aim to eliminate a product, nor impose fines, and there is an educational component involved.
In other words, in the absence of a mandate or any material enforcement, the industry is taking the initiative with a grain of salt.
