Lawsuits filed against city in new sodium law menu icon

With the announcement, New York City becomes the first city in the nation to require chain restaurants to post warning labels next to menu items that contain high levels of sodium.

They plan to file a lawsuit against New York City’s health department claiming this requirement harms many of New York’s small businesses that have been working hard to provide nutritional access to their customers, and not to corporate chains -like the Board of Health thinks. According to Medical Daily, high salt can lead to high blood pressure, cognitive decline, bone-loss, and edema-when your body holds onto extra water and swells.

Fast-food establishments in New York City must reveal the sodium content in menu items starting December 1.

The black salt icon will appear next to items listed on the menu and at the checkout counter.

The new warning was approved by the Board of Health in the city following a decision taken in September. The warnings apply only to foods that exceed the current daily recommended amount of sodium, which is 2,300 milligrams or about the amount in 1 teaspoon of table salt.

Mayor de Blasio admitted Monday he’s also “sinned” by consuming too much salt.

But while several people lauded the Health Department’s initiative, a few salt lovers said they’d rather stay in the dark about what’s lurking in their food.

Anyone familiar with the competitive shows on the Food Network has frequently heard contestants criticized for not using “enough” salt to suit the tastes of renowned chef-judges. For example, a 2014 study examined more than 2,500 items from chain restaurants in the Philadelphia, Penn., region. The African-American and Hispanic communities of New York City suffer disproportionately from the preventable heart diseases and strokes associated with excess sodium in the diet. So New Yorkers may now get a quick sense of whether their Panera sandwich is too salty, but they won’t know if there’s a load of salt in the meals they buy at their local sushi bar every week.

Labeling “remains an unproven strategy for improving the nutritional quality of consumer food choices”, it concluded.

Among black adults, 36 percent have been diagnosed with high blood pressure, a rate 50 percent higher than for whites, according to the Health Department.

The industry says the new sodium rule is unnecessary in light of federal regulations that will take effect next year.

The National Restaurant Association plants to repeat what they did along with many others back in 2012.

“Things are not going to work out great if all you do is just not eat salt”, Weintraub said.