Judge issues temporary hold on NYC salt warning enforcement

The National Restaurant Association had asked for the order last week, after a judge ruled the city could fine restaurants that do not comply.

“There are well-established connections between high sodium consumption and high blood pressure, which is a principal risk factor for heart disease and stroke”.

Chain restaurants will be forced to post salt icons next to items with more than 2,300 milligrams of sodium, which is the recommended daily limit.

“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”, Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a statement released after the ruling came down Wednesday.

The city’s salt law is the first of its kind in the United States, and is particularly significant as a measure against heart disease, the leading cause of death in New York City and the U.S. “It’s way too overbroad and it advises people of things that may not apply to them”, he said. The NRA argued that it amounted to an unnecessary, arbitrary and costly mandate.

The association is appealing that decision.

NRA spokeswoman Christin Fernandez said in an email that the association hoped the decision would be expedited and made by the end of March. That’s 2,300 milligrams, about a teaspoon. The average American, meanwhile, typically consumes approximately 3,400 milligrams per day, according to federal data.

So, what are the huge sodium bombs on chain restaurant menus?

It’s not hard to find items like these on the menus of the restaurant chains implicated in the ruling. At issue is a municipal regulation adopted by the New York City Board of Health in September of 2015 that applies to chain restaurants operating in the city; the rule defines a “chain” as restaurants with 15 or more locations nationwide.

City health officials say they are confident the rule will be upheld.