Baking & Snack - June 2010 - 36

2010 MID-YEAR UPDATE

SALT - SINNER OR SAINT
It's a battle that has raged for three decades and one that appears to be far from over. Rumblings about the reduction
of sodium levels picked up in October with an announcement from the American Medical Association (AMA)
that reducing the nation's collective sodium consumption
could lower medical treatment costs by $18 billion each
year. In defense of its announcement, AMA
quoted a RAND Corp. study that said
by meeting the current national
sodium guidelines of no more
than 2,300 mg a day, 11 million
cases of hypertension would be
eliminated, extending the lives
of thousands each year. According to RAND, Santa Monica, CA,
adults typically consume 3,400 mg
of sodium per day.
Some months later in January, the New York City Health
Department launched its
National Salt Reduction Initiative (NSRI). Headed by New
York mayor Michael Bloomberg, NSRI is coordinating
a national effort to prevent
heart attacks and strokes
by reducing the amount
of salt in CPGs and restaurant foods, reducing
American's sodium consumption by 25% during
the next five years. The
public-private
partnership has developed targets
for sodium reduction in
62 categories of packaged
food and 25 categories of
restaurant food. There are
voluntary 2- and 4-year
targets in each food category. In total, 16 companies have agreed to NSRI
standards, including Hain
Celestial, H.J. Heinz Co.,

The 2005
Dietary
Guidelines
recommended
that
Americans
consume no
more than
2,300 mg of
sodium per
day (about 1
tsp of salt).
BAKING & SNACK / June 2010

Subway, Unilever, Kraft Foods, Mars Food US, Au Bon
Pain, McCain Foods and Starbucks.
"By working together over the past two years, we
have been able to accomplish something many said
was impossible - setting concrete, achievable goals
for salt reduction," Mr. Bloomberg said. "The National
Salt Reduction Initiative has the potential to save tens
of thousands of lives that otherwise would be lost to
cardiovascular disease in coming years."
Not to be outdone, the Center for Science in the Public
Interest (CSPI) further pushed the debate about sodium
by again requesting the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) revoke salt's Generally Recognized As Safe
(GRAS) status and regulate it as a food additive instead.
"If companies don't cooperate, they can certainly expect
other state and local governments and, perhaps at long
last, the FDA to begin regulating in this area," said Michael F. Jacobson, CSPI executive director.
In April, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) recommended
strategies for reducing sodium intake to levels stated in the
Dietary Guidelines for Americans, in response to a 2008
Congressional request. IOM concluded that reducing
the sodium content in food will require new government
standards for an acceptable level of sodium. Following the
announcement, FDA offered a statement proposing review of the IOM recommendations, suggesting continued
work with federal agencies, public health and consumer
groups and the food industry to support the reduction of
sodium levels in the food supply.
The Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) also came out
in support of IOM's efforts to reduce sodium in foods, but
the organization called for further research into the health
impacts of broad-based reduction programs. "Significant
progress has been made in reformulating food products,
but considerable challenges remain," said Marianne Gillette, president, IFT. "Food manufacturers must balance the
multiple functions of sodium in food in addition to taste.
Changing the sodium content in food impacts microbiological safety, flavor balance and quality, texture, mouthfeel,
preservation, color and nutritional properties of a product."
Rather than participate in another round of wait-andsee, many companies have taken matters concerning sodium reduction into their own hands. Campbell's Soup
Co., Sara Lee, ConAgra and General Mills are a few of

Baking & Snack - June 2010

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