Last week the Institute of Medicine (IOM) released a report that highlighted the over-consumption of salt in the United States. The IOM report issued a call for a national effort to reduce the sodium content in foods in order to also reduce the number of health problems associated with too much salt consumption--heart disease, stroke, hyper-tension, high blood pressure, heart failure, and heart attacks.At the time the report was released the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said it was not planning any regulatory action to reduce salt intake at the time, instead hoping the food industry would take voluntary action to reduce the levels of sodium in food. It appears as though the FDA's "wait and see" approach may be paying off as sixteen food companies have announced they will voluntarily reduced the salt levels in their foods as part of a national initiative--one started in New York and not Washington, DC.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg started a national campaign in New York called the National Salt Reduction Initiative, which Reuters reports is "a coalition of cities and health organizations that aim to reduce salt in restaurant and packaged foods by 25 percent over five years." Bloomberg's initiative targets restaurants and packaged food because, according to the New York City Health Department, 80 percent of salt in food is added before the products are sold. The current proposal is to reduce American salt consumption by 20 percent by year 2014.
Reuters reports that US researchers have found that reducing salt intake by 10 percent "could . . . save the United States $32 billion in healthcare costs."
We shall see if Bloomberg's program and the food industry continue to work voluntarily on salt reduction in food, or if the FDA will step in and issue national guidelines.
To read the Reuters article click here.
To read a previous US Agricultural & Food Law and Policy Blog on the salt report, click here.
To learn more about the National Salt Reduction Initiative and the participants, click here.
Posted: 04/27/10
