In a statement, city health officials said they believe NY residents will respond to the warning labels.
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The new requirement, passed in September, forces chains with 15 or more locations in New York City to display the warning symbol if the dish has more than 2,300 milligrams of salt, according to Politico. Starting Tuesday, New York City will require a salt shaker warning icon on many restaurant menus to highlight items that exceed the recommended daily salt intake. The city will collect $200 fines to restaurant that does not show the symbol in their menus from March 1st. “Every one of these cumbersome new laws makes it tougher and tougher for restaurants to find success”, said Melissa Fleischut, president of the New York State Restaurant Association.
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. Now, Mayor Bill de Blasio is following his predecessor’s steps in public health matters.
“It’s not hard to get 2.3 g of sodium into your face”, Dr. Howard Weintraub, co-director of NYU Langone Center for the Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease, said on Monday.
The National Restaurant Association, a trade organization, has said they plan to file suit against the New York City Department of Health in order to curtail the use of salt warning labels. Bloomberg, the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg, the parent company of Bloomberg News, had asked restaurants and food manufacturers to voluntarily reduce the amount of salt in their menu items.
Chains account for one-third of the restaurant clientele in NY, city authorities say.
Labelling “remains an unproven strategy for improving the nutritional quality of consumer food choices”, it concluded. A T.G.I. Friday’s NY cheddar and bacon burger counts 4,280 mg, for example; a Chili’s boneless Buffalo chicken salad has 3,460 mg.
The icon, a salt shaker inside of a triangle, must be posted next to items with 2,300 mg or more of sodium in food service establishments that are part of chains with 15 or more locations nationwide.
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The NRA and other groups overturned an attempt by the city two years ago to ban large sugary drinks. The move has been taken as federal regulators, health advocates and some in the food industry are trying to make people in America cut down on salt.
