Justice Eileen Rakower of NY state Supreme Court in Manhattan last Wednesday shot down a challenge to the rule by the restaurant group, paving the way for enforcement of the regulation. “I believe information is power”.
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New York City chain restaurants that serve sodium-laden foods will not be subject to a $200 fine if they don’t warn customers about the salty dishes, an appeals court ruled Monday in an 11th-hour reprieve of the new regulation.
The city recently became the first USA municipality to require restaurant chains to post high-sodium warnings on menus, forcing eateries with 15 or more locations nationwide to place a triangular salt-shaker icon beside items with at least 2,300 milligrams of sodium.
“If your meal has so much sodium that it merits a salt shaker on the menu, then – for the sake of your health – order something else”, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a statement. Public health leadership works; it saves lives.
The city’s Board of Health “did not act outside the bounds of its authority in the area of public health by adopting a rule requiring chain restaurants to post sodium warning labels”, the judge said in a written decision Friday.
“The irreparable harm is real”, he said, arguing that there’s controversy among scientists themselves about how much salt is too much.
“There are well-established connections between high sodium consumption and high blood pressure, which is a principal risk factor for heart disease and stroke”.
The association is appealing that decision.
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The threshold of 2,300 milligrams of sodium, about a teaspoon’s worth, is the recommended daily limit for adults in the United States. One in three New York City deaths is due to heart disease, the department has said. Considering that the average New Yorker consumes almost 40% more sodium than the recommended daily limit, the new rule seems to be justified.
