FDA plans to limit amount of salt allowed in processed foods for health reasons

[cynatnite]

The Food and Drug Administration is planning an unprecedented effort to gradually reduce the salt consumed each day by Americans, saying that less sodium in everything from soup to nuts would prevent thousands of deaths from hypertension and heart disease. The initiative, to be launched this year, would eventually lead to the first legal limits on the amount of salt allowed in food products.

The government intends to work with the food industry and health experts to reduce sodium gradually over a period of years to adjust the American palate to a less salty diet, according to FDA sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the initiative had not been formally announced.

Officials have not determined the salt limits. In a complicated undertaking, the FDA would analyze the salt in spaghetti sauces, breads and thousands of other products that make up the $600 billion food and beverage market, sources said. Working with food manufacturers, the government would set limits for salt in these categories, designed to gradually ratchet down sodium consumption. The changes would be calibrated so that consumers barely notice the modification.

The legal limits would be open to public comment, but administration officials do not think they need additional authority from Congress.

"This is a 10-year program," one source said. "This is not rolling off a log. We're talking about a comprehensive phase-down of a widely used ingredient. We're talking about embedded tastes in a whole generation of people."

The FDA, which regulates most processed foods, would be joined in the effort by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees meat and poultry.

Currently, manufacturers can use as much salt as they like in products because under federal standards, it falls into the category deemed "generally recognized as safe." Foodmakers are merely required to report the amount on nutrition labels.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/19/AR2010041905049_pf.html

[donco6]

1. Hmmm - I dunno.

I have low blood pressure, so salt's not a problem. It's hard to add salt to lunchmeat or other things where it's incorporated into the product. I'm feeling this is going a little too far. No?

[HockeyMom]

2. What is to prevent people

from buying a container of Morton's Salt in the supermarket and using it to put their own salt on? Same for restaurants. Will they take the salt and pepper shakers off their tables too? Again, it's not difficult to bring your own salt with you.

Even though personally I rarely salt my own food (don't like taste of it), this still smacks of a medical nanny state.

[Warpy]

4. Then it becomes a consumer decision

What the government is trying to do is limit salt for public health reasons. The public itself is still allowed to be ornery.

[RC]

6. No one is stopping anyone from piling the salt on their own food.

Just the over salted prepared foods.

There is more to this than just high blood pressure.
Some people have a chemical imbalance where the sodium leaches the calcium out of the bones. Chemistry 101.

Do your heels hurt when you get out of bed in the morning? Most likely cause is too much salt. Better go see a doctor.

[DJ13]

12. Just the over salted prepared foods.

I bet the average consumer will add even more salt at home than it once came with from the food companies.

[RC]

14. They do anyway.

[DJ13]

15. But they'll now be salting tasteless food

You just have to figure that means they will over do it even more than they are doing it now.

[NoNothing]

10. This regulation would apply to Morton's too of course

They'd have to lower the sodium content in their salt.

[FormerDittoHead]

3. Too bad it's not HFCS. This article (link) pretty much sums up what I think

http://gaia-health.com/articles201/000236-fda-to-control-salt-intake-not-aspartame-or-high-fructose-corn-syrup.shtml

...Meanwhile, known killers like aspartame and high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) are left free to continue their destruction of health. As ever, the usual incestuous techniques have led to this latest ploy to hand over our food supply to Agribusiness, and the marketing campaign to convince you it's a good thing is in full swing, with full cooperation of the news media.

...

Salt Is a Healthy and Necessary Nutrient

It's never been shown that salt intake is harmful to health, except in cases of obesity. It has been shown that lowering salt intake increases the rate of death. See Take a Grain of Salt With That Salt Reduction Advice for more about the flawed science that's led to the erroneous belief that salt is harmful.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

16. Laughing at "known killers like aspartame and HFCS."

Do they complain about fluoride too?

[gratuitous]

5. I think this is a good idea

I used to salt my food once upon a time, but I found that over the years, I didn't need to salt anything that I hadn't prepared myself from scratch. Practically anything that comes out of a package is heavily laden with salt, and given the nutritional illiteracy of our population, it's easy to see that significant segments will get far more salt than is good for them, leading to a variety of health problems, including high blood pressure, a quiet but very deadly condition. And we all wind up paying for those disabilities and premature deaths.

The salt in processed food didn't get there all at once; it was gradually increased over time as the national palate got used to sodium content. Tapering it back off is a very good idea, and one that I don't think would occur in the food industry without government mandate.

[TheOther95Percent]

8. I agree.

I agree. I don't think sodium is a benign ingredients; particularly for people like me with high blood pressure. I also find it very difficult when I'm traveling to stay within my daily limits. I eat a lot of fruit and salad (sans dressing) on the road.

[TheOther95Percent]

9. I agree.

I agree. I don't think sodium is a benign ingredient; particularly for people like me with high blood pressure. I also find it very difficult when I'm traveling to stay within my daily limits. I eat a lot of fruit and salad (sans dressing) on the road.

[sybylla]

7. Finally.

I'm tired of all the salt in prepared foods. If I wanted salt, I'd add it, just like everyone else can who wants it. And better yet, the salt I add has iodine.

[jdlh8894]

11. Salt is a natural preservitive

Would you rather they use chemicals? Ages ago,meat,fruit and veggies were stored in salt on long voyages to prevent scurvy,etc.I would rather see
NaCl on a label than some kind of something I can't pronounce.

[gratuitous]

13. It's not being banned, it's being limited for the first time

And while this comment isn't directed at you personally, this dichotomous "all or nothing" mentality really hurts public discussion of important issues. Salt in and of itself is a naturally occuring mineral, one we need to help regulate and balance our bodies' health. The problem is how much salt is used.

Certainly it's nice that an Oscar Mayer Lunchable has a shelf life well into the next decade thanks to its sodium content. But is it really necessary that the processed food you buy today is still good come 2012? A lower sodium content might mean it will spoil by August, but the trade-off in health benefits is well worth it. As the article says, right now there are no limits to the amount of sodium food manufacturers can pack into their products. They're obligated only to tell the consumer how much sodium is in that polska kielbasa. But what does 1780 mg of sodium in a serving mean? Is that a lot? Not very much? And would the shelf life and taste be harmed all that much if the sodium content was brought down to, say, 900 mg of sodium per serving?

[scarletwoman]

17. I would really welcome this.

I live alone and work full time. While I'm well aware that the healthiest way to eat is to prepare one's food from scratch -- which I always did throughout the years when I was cooking for my children and a partner -- I'm honestly not very motivated to do so just for myself.

I would really like to be able to buy some prepared dishes for myself once in awhile that don't contain so much sodium that one meal's worth puts me over the limit of what my high blood pressure can bear.

sw

[Naturyl]

18. This is a good idea. (n/t)