New York Assemblyman Felix Ortiz (D-Brooklyn) has reportedly introduced legislation (A.B. A10129) that would bar restaurants from using salt “in any form” during food preparation. According to the bill, which cites the World Health Organization, “three quarters or more of the sodium intake in the United States comes from processed or restaurant foods.” Proposing to fine restaurants $1,000 for each violation, the law aims to “give customers the option to add salt after the meal has been prepared for them,” allowing them “more control over the amount of sodium they intake, and . . . the option to exercise healthier diets and healthier lifestyles.” Meanwhile, the legislation has drawn swift criticism from consumers, nutritionists, restaurateurs, and chefs, the latter of whom have noted the important chemical role of salt in baked goods and other dishes. “Chefs would be handcuffed in their food preparation, and many are already in open rebellion…
Tag Archives salt/sodium
A recent study has apparently concluded that industry efforts to reduce mean sodium intake by 9.5 percent could avert “513,885 strokes and 480,358 MIs [myocardial infarctions] over the lifetime of adults aged 40 to 85 years who are alive today compared with the status quo, increasing QALYs [quality-adjusted life-years] by 2.1 million and saving $32.1 billion in medical costs.” Crystal Smith-Spangler, et al., “Population Strategies to Decrease Sodium Intake and the Burden of Cardiovascular Disease: A Cost-Effectiveness Analysis,” Annals of Internal Medicine, March 1, 2010. By comparison, a sodium tax of 40 percent would achieve only a 6 percent reduction in salt intake, averting 327,892 strokes and 306,173 MIs, increasing QALYs by 1.3 million and saving $22.4 billion over the same period. Researchers specifically assessed the cost-effectiveness of two population strategies to reduce sodium intake: “government collaboration with food manufacturers to voluntarily cut sodium in processed foods, modeled on the…
U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) has reportedly joined the California Poultry Federation (CPF) and the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) in urging the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to reform labeling requirements for sodium-enhanced chicken. “Unfortunately, since 2003, chicken injected with sodium additives has been allowed to be misleadingly labeled as ‘100 percent all-natural,’” Boxer apparently stated at a February 24, 2010, press conference. “In these difficult times, our families should not have to pay $2 billion for saltwater that they don’t know about, they don’t want and they certainly don’t need.” Known as “plumping,” this practice purportedly involves injecting “saltwater, chicken stock, seaweed extract or some combination thereof into chicken to increase its weight and price, while simultaneously increasing sodium content by up to 700 [percent],” according to one CPF member’s internet campaign. Although USDA already requires poultry containing these ingredients to carry warning labels at…
The National Salt Reduction Initiative (NSRI) has called on companies “to reduce the salt levels in 61 categories of packaged food and 25 classes of restaurant food,” issuing a list of proposed targets designed to cut the salt in these foods by 25 percent over five years. Led by the New York City Health Department, this partnership of cities, states and national health organizations apparently solicited input from the food industry in developing the proposed targets. NSRI will also accept additional comments until February 1, “especially from companies that have not yet participated in the target-setting process, as well as consumer organizations and other interested parties.” “Americans consume roughly twice the recommended limit of salt each day–causing widespread high blood pressure and placing millions at risk of heart attack and stroke–in ways that they cannot control on their own,” stated a January 11, 2010, press release, which noted that “some popular…
The Canadian House of Commons’ Standing Committee on Health (HESA) recently heard testimony from Nestlé S.A. and Kellogg Co. representatives about dietary salt reduction. The representatives reportedly backed recent efforts to reduce salt levels in popular products, noting that breakfast cereals account for only 3 percent of the salt in the Canadian diets. Nestlé Director of Corporate Affairs Catherine O’Brien also stated that the company currently complies with the Heart and Stroke Foundation’s Health Check™ program, which has worked to remove 500,000 kilograms of salt from the food supply in the past 4 years. “We must balance the push of science with the pull of the market—consumers will simply not compromise on taste, therefore it must be a priority alongside improved health,” O’Brien was quoted as saying. According to media sources, some HESA members have expressed frustration with forthcoming federal salt reduction targets because they are not mandatory. “I frankly don’t…
According to a news source, a New Jersey court has dismissed fraud-related claims filed against Denny’s Corp. alleging that the company failed to disclose the amount of sodium in its menu items. DeBenedetto v. Denny’s Corp., No. __ (N.J. Super. Ct., dismissed November 10, 2009). Additional details about the litigation appear in issue 312 of this Update. The company reportedly indicated in a statement that the suit was dismissed because the plaintiff failed to and could not establish a physical injury under state product liability law. The named plaintiff in this putative class action reportedly alleged that he had consumed Denny’s foods for more than 20 years and was shocked when he learned how much sodium was in his favorite menu items. While he did not allege any link between the company’s foods and his alleged high blood pressure, the plaintiff claimed that he would not have selected the high-sodium…
A recent study in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology has apparently raised questions about “the scientific logic and feasibility of the decades-long effort to limit salt intake in humans,” according to a concurrent University of California, Davis, press release. Researchers analyzed 24-hour urinary sodium excretion data from 19,151 individuals involved in 62 sodium intake studies from 33 countries, concluding that “humans naturally regulate their salt intake within a narrowly defined physiologic range.” Their findings revealed that despite varying food environments, human salt consumption “tracks within a narrow range” between 2,700 and 4,900 mg. In addition, neuroscience research has apparently suggested that “sodium intake is tightly controlled by critical pathways in the brain to main optimal function of many physiologic functions.” “If sodium intake is physiologically determined, then our national nutrition guidelines and policies must reflect that reality,” the lead author was quoted as saying. “It is…
The Centre for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI Canada) has issued a report claiming that excess sodium “likely kills more Canadians every year than any other chemical substance” added to food. Titled “Salty to a Fault: Varied Sodium Levels Show Lowering Salt in Processed Foods IS Feasible,” the report surveyed 318 foods and purportedly found that a majority of Canadian restaurants and perhaps most packaged foods sold in grocery stores contain unhealthy and unnecessarily high levels of sodium. It calls on Health Canada to set category-by-category sodium-reduction targets for foods, alleging that “salt remains largely untouched by food safety laws and is grossly underestimated as a public health risk by government officials who generally direct much more attention to substances that pose rare or more acute risks.” The report apparently found varying degrees of sodium among groups of comparable foods, citing as an example two restaurant french fry orders…
Putative class claims have been filed in federal court in Illinois against Denny’s Corp., alleging that the company defrauded consumers by misrepresenting or omitting information about the “excessive amount of sodium—the deadliest ingredient in the food supply—present in its meals.” Ciszewski v. Denny’s Corp., No. 09-5355 (N.D. Ill, filed August 29, 2009). Information about similar litigation filed against the company in a New Jersey state court appears in issue 312 of this Update. The named plaintiff alleges that he has high blood pressure and takes medication for the condition. While he has apparently been advised to limit his salt consumption, he purportedly eats at Denny’s “from time to time and with frequency,” and eats the company’s “Moons Over My Hammy,” “SuperBird Sandwich,” and “Meat Lover’s Scramble,” which allegedly contain more than 3,200 mg, 2,600 mg and 5,600 mg of sodium, respectively. The plaintiff seeks to certify a nationwide class of…
The Association of Cereal Food Manufacturers (ACFM) has reportedly asked the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) to delay a forthcoming public health initiative that warns of excessive salt content in cereals and other products. Slated for release next month, the TV and radio advertisements are part of an ongoing FSA effort to reduce the average adult’s salt consumption to 6 grams per day by 2010. According to the agency, the latest £3 million salvo in this campaign does not seek to explicitly “demonize” cereal manufacturers, but instead targets all food products that contain salt. FSA has since declined to pull the commercials, but has praised ACFM members for reducing the salt content of their products by 44 percent since 1998. The cereal trade group has also reiterated that cereals account for less than 5 percent of the total salt consumed by UK adults. “We don’t believe it’s appropriate, considering the…
