Now, New York City is adding a tiny salt shaker symbol on menus starting Tuesday, Dec. 1, to try to make people aware of the high salt content in the meal they are ordering. The symbol, a saltshaker in a black triangle, will be placed next to any food item on a menu that contains 2,300 milligrams or more of sodium, the equivalent of the daily recommended intake, according to the New York Times.
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Still, Americans tend to eat more than the recommended daily limit regularly-around 3,400 mg of sodium per day, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
As of Tuesday, some NYC restaurant chains will post high-salt warnings on their menus in a bid to help New Yorkers make informed choices when it comes to their health. The African-American and Hispanic communities of New York City suffer disproportionately from the preventable heart diseases and strokes associated with excess sodium in the diet.
Politico reported Monday that the National Restaurant Association plans to sue the Big Apple’s health department over the new law, arguing it hurts small businesses. But New York City has always been a pioneer in dietary restrictions. The rule also requires chain food service establishments to post a warning statement where customers place their orders. Still, New Yorkers consume slightly less salt – about 3,239 mg of salt on a daily basis – a health department report shows.
“When you see this warning label, you know that that item has more than the total amount of sodium that you should consume in a single day”, Health Commissioner Dr. Mary Bassett said.
It will be interesting to see if other cities follow New York’s lead and try to shake up people about the salt content in their restaurants. “But maybe, just maybe, they’ll start to watch how much they eat, maybe they will get off the subway a stop earlier and walk, instead of taking the elevator, they will walk two flights, there will be some weight loss”.
The industry says the new sodium rule is unnecessary in light of federal regulations that will take effect next year.
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Salt. You may love it, you may hate it, but you really can’t live without it. Those rules, part of the Affordable Care Act, would require chains of 20 restaurants or more to provide calorie counts and other nutritional information on menus.
