NYC Restaurant Chains to Post High-Salt Warnings on their Menus

The new law, which was approved in September, is thought to be the first in the country to require salt warnings on food.

A new era in nutritional warnings is going to start in New York City, this week, wherein the chain restaurants will need to place a special symbol on highly salty dishes.

Any dish containing more than 2,300 milligrams (0.08 oz) of sodium, the daily limits many nutritionists recommend and about 1 teaspoon of salt, must display a symbol next to the dish’s menu item.

Diners at various chain restaurants in New York City will now see warnings next to items that are high in sodium. This is the first high-profile health advocacy bill passed by Mayor Bill de Blasio.

“We’re talking about a leading cause of death here”, she argued at a news conference held on Monday.

“With the high sodium warning label, New Yorkers will have easily accessible information that can affect their health”, Health Commissioner Dr. Mary Bassett said in September, after the Board of Health unanimously adopted the resolution on sodium warning labels.

Those items will have an image of a salt shaker next to them.

“That is why we are taking legal action against this latest assault which goes too far, too fast for New York’s restaurant community”.

City health officials hope the warnings will help curb salt consumption among residents, said the Wall Street Journal.

Well, then, NRA, join the Center for Science in the Public Interest in calling for all local health departments to provide this critical, heart-healthy information to their citizens.

It “remains an unproven strategy for improving the nutritional quality of consumer food choices”, the study 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. Restaurants with 15 or more locations nationwide will be mandated to warn customers that items with the black icon may pose a health risk as they exceed the daily recommended total intake of sodium.

The NRA and other groups overturned an attempt by the city two years ago to ban large sugary drinks. (This is a tougher standard that the ACA calorie one that applies to change with more than 20 locations, but NYC also made the calorie requirement 15 locations.) Additionally, the establishment must post an explanation of what the salt shaker icon means.