Last week, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the Health Commissioner, Dr. Thomas Farley, announced a campaign to cut the quantities of sodium in packaged and restaurant foods by 25% over the next five years.This is a highly aggressive goal and is modeled on a program enacted in the United Kingdom to lower sodium in 85 food categories. The UK initiative resulted in a 9 percent drop in sodium consumption over nine years.
Most importantly, since this initiative includes packaged foods, this program does not simply impact NYers, but rather the entire nation.
No big surprise, the Salt industry is lashing out claiming "There's a certain arrogance when the New York City Health Department is setting policy for the rest of the country," said Salt Institute spokeswoman Lisa Roman. "These are decisions that should be made personally."
Ms. Roman seems to be sticking her foot in her mouth. With 75 - 80% of a typical person's daily sodium intake coming from processed and restaurant foods, it seems that this initiative DOES just that -- allows people to make a decision on just how much salt they want in their food.
You want more salt? Grab a shaker and feel free to choose hypertension (or in my case, a vertigo attack).
Today, that decision simply doesn't exist.
I applaud this campaign and the food manufacturers' and restaurants willing to make this commitment.
Train hard; stay strong.
Peace.
Susan
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3 Responses to "Mayor Bloomberg's War On Sodium"As a Brit I've got to say that the scheme really did work in the UK. Through public pressure there was a large portion of the food market that dropped their sodium - including some unexpected companies, like Marks & Spencers who seriously dropped the salt in all their ready-made meals. Good work New York, and fingers corssed this is the start of a big change for the better!
David, great feedback from someone who has lived thru this experience! I'm truly hopeful that this is the start of good things to come. As an aside, I approached a local, well known chef who at the time was out of work (his own restaurant closed) and asked if he would be interested in creating a line of very low sodium frozen foods. His response to me was that salt is a very important and prominent ingredient in his cooking. To say I was disappointed would be an understatement. I would like to think that trained chefs can find a means for bringing out taste in food, sans an abundance of salt. Perhaps I'm wrong.
Surprising to know about war on Sodium...Thanks for sharing...
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