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Food

Salty Dishes in New York Will Now Have Warning Labels

Starting tomorrow, keep your eye out for salt-shaker icons on chain restaurant menus in the Big Apple, which indicate items that are loaded with sodium.
Photo via Flickr user Lucas Richarz

Restaurants dish out salt liberally, the white stuff being one of the most popular go-to methods (along with butter) to give virtually any dish some extra oomph. But New York City—land of restaurant grades, trans-fat bans, and publicly-posted calorie counts—is taking a stand against salt. Starting tomorrow, chain restaurants in New York City will have to label high-salt items on chain restaurant menus with a salt-shaker icon.

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Many physicians and health advocacy groups like the American Heart Association (AHA) will tell you with conviction that you're consuming far too much salt. Experts say that high-sodium foods can increase blood pressure and potentially lead to a host of health problems, including increased risk of heart failure, stroke, osteoporosis, and other unpleasantries. The FDA recommends that people consume no more than 2,300 milligrams of sodium per day—about a teaspoon of salt—while the AHA recommends people consume 1,500 milligrams or less a day. But according to the AHA, most people consume upwards of 3,400 milligrams a day, more than double the recommended amount.

READ: Salt Is a Secret Weapon

"With the high sodium warning label, New Yorkers will have easily accessible information that can affect their health," New York City Health Commissioner Dr. Mary Bassett said when the plan was unveiled in September.

Unless you're an obsessive nutrition-label-reader, you probably have no clue how much salt you're consuming on an average day. The FDA breaks it down, explaining that natural salt in food accounts for around 10 percent of daily intake, cooking with salt accounts for another 5 to 10 percent, and a whopping 75 percent of salt comes from salt used at restaurants or pumped into processed foods. Some single restaurant items contain more than your entire daily recommended value.

The New York City law will require chains of 15 or more outlets nationwide to stamp a salt-shaker on menu items that contain more than the daily recommended 2,300 milligrams of sodium. These restaurants account for a third of the city's restaurant traffic, and the city estimates that about 10 percent of items on menus will earn a salt-shaker.

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Among them will be the Quiznos foot-long Classic Italian (3,930 milligrams) and the KFC Famous Bowl (2,450 milligrams). The Associated Press dug up the sodium overload that is TGI Friday's New York cheddar and bacon burger, which clocks in at an absurd 4,280 milligrams. The AP also suggests that some movie theaters may stop carrying salt-crusted soft pretzels to avoid having to label them as containing more than a day's worth of salt.

Even outlets that conjure a comparatively healthy image in the mind of consumers are pouring on the salt. A burrito with sofritas, white rice, pinto beans, tomatillo red chile salsa, cheese, and guacamole at Chipotle racks up 2,955 milligrams of sodium.

The decision to label high-salt items was applauded by heart health groups and backed by the New York City Board of Health, but not everyone is pleased with the decision. Restauranteurs say laws like this make doing business harder.

"Every one of these cumbersome new laws makes it tougher and tougher for restaurants to find success," said New York State Restaurant Association President Melissa Fleischut.

Salt producers, meanwhile, say that the warning misrepresents the dangers of salt, and point to one large study that was published last year in the New England Journal of Medicine that suggested that the amount of sodium most people consume is alright for their heart health. Some scientists took issue with the results of the study and the message sent by the findings.

READ: This 100-Year-Old Factory Makes the Saltiest Salt You'll Ever Taste

And while many healthcare groups suggest sticking to a low-sodium diet, there have been other conflicting reports on the real dangers of salt and excess sodium as of late. One study published in Jama Internal Medicine earlier this year found that salt intake was not associated with death or risk of heart disease or heart failure in older adults, but another study published in July in the Journal of the American Heart Association found that high sodium intake lead to higher blood pressure and hypertension among the Japanese population.

It remains to be seen if the salt warning will catch on elsewhere. When New York City banned trans fats in 2006, other cities followed suit, and eventually the FDA ruled to eliminate trans fats from food. Food will be trans-fat-free across the country by 2018.

Sticking to the FDA's recommendations of about a teaspoon of salt a day can be tough, but maybe a little salt shame will help. Or maybe try cooking more at home—even the alleged sodium bomb of instant ramen clocks in at a comparatively modest 830 milligrams.