But now the FDA is asking food manufacturers and restaurants to reduce salt in their products, a move applauded by experts like Joan Salge Blake, a registered dietitian nutritionist at Boston University. “And, it helps level the playing field for those companies that are already trying to use less salt in their foods”, said CSPI president Michael F. Jacobson. With today’s announcement we commit to working closely with industry on the best path forward to reduce sodium in our food supply and improve the public’s health. “Experts at the Institute of Medicine have concluded that reducing sodium intake to 2,300 mg per day can significantly help Americans reduce their blood pressure and ultimately prevent hundreds of thousands of premature illnesses and deaths”, Susan Mayne, director of the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, said in a statement.
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This story was updated at 11:04 a.m.
FDA’s release of draft sodium reduction targets will help us further support healthier options for consumers and promote additional participation by all food manufacturers.
They come after a six-year delay; the government first said it would release sodium-level guidelines in 2010. Most of that sodium is hidden inside common processed foods and restaurant meals.
The much anticipated set of guidelines have been in the works since 2011. The idea is to encourage gradual change so consumers’ taste buds can adjust, and to give the companies time to develop lower-sodium foods.
But mostly, the move would most stand to benefit consumers themselves, since a salt-heavy diet can cause hypertension, and thus heart disease and stroke, two leading US causes of death.
The average American gets about 3,400 milligrams of salt a day. “The FDA is confident that the short-term targets, which seek to decrease sodium intake to about 3,000 mg per day, are readily achievable”.
In addition to issuing its draft guidance, the FDA formally denied CSPI’s petition that asked for mandatory, instead of voluntary, standards.
Selected companies have already done some work in this vein, including Au Bon Pain, Boar’s Head, Campbell Soup Company CPB, +0.36% Fresh Direct, Goya Foods, H.J. Heinz Company and Kraft Foods KHC, +0.56% Starbucks SBUX, +0.59% Subway, Target TGT, -0.54% and Unilever UL, +0.88%. But the wait means that Obama administration officials probably won’t be around to see if individual companies follow the guidelines. Very small businesses not otherwise required to comply with the rule must still, upon request, provide documentation that they are eligible for the exemption, and will have five years to comply with the rule.
On May 27, 2016, FDA published its final rule regarding Mitigation Strategies to Protect Food Against Intentional Adulteration (the “Food Defense Rule”).
Researcher in some of the studies cited by FDA estimate that lowering USA sodium intake by about 40 percent over the next decade could save 500,000 lives and almost $100 billion in healthcare costs, the agency says.
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It said the draft targets factor in data on consumer preferences, as well as the efforts the industry is making to reduce sodium.
