FDA Issues Guidance on Sodium Reduction for Food Producers

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has released guidance on limiting sodium in processed and packaged foods. “Limiting certain nutrients, such as sodium, in our diets plays a crucial role in preventing diseases like hypertension and cardiovascular disease that disproportionately impact racial and ethnic minority groups; these diseases often result in hundreds of thousands of lives lost and billions in annual health care costs,” the agency stated in a press release. The statement notes that “people consume 50% more sodium than recommended,” and “about 70% of the sodium we eat comes from packaged, processed and restaurant foods.”

“[W]e recognize that most of the food consumption in the U.S. comes from a relatively small number of products and menu items in the marketplace that are produced by a limited number of food manufacturers,” the guidance states. “It is possible that reformulation by these food manufacturers could lead to increased demand for lower-sodium versions of ingredients used to produce packaged and prepared foods.” FDA notes that it specifically targets two categories of food producers with the guidance: (i) “[f]ood manufacturers whose products make up a significant proportion of national sales in one or more categories” and (ii) “[r]estaurant and similar retail food chains that are national or regional in scope.”