US Food Industry Welcomes FDA Targets to Cut Salt Content But Claims it Has Already Made Major Inroads

The guidance aimed at restaurant chains and packaged food manufacturers will potentially impact a wide-range of foods, including meats, pizzas and other snacks, and baked goods.

 

While welcoming the new guidance, the food industry pointed out that it had already made significant inroads in reducing salt content in its food.

 

Paul Grimwood, chairman and CEO, Nestlé USA, "Nestlé has been on a journey to reduce sodium across its food portfolio for more than a decade.”

 

US companies such as General Mills and Campbell Soup have also made similar moves to reduce salt levels.

 

Currently, the average sodium intake in the US is around 3,400 mg a day and the FDA wants it reduced to 2.300 mg a day over the next ten years, which it says is the advice offered by health professionals.

 

According to Thomas Frieden, director of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, cutting sodium consumption by just 12 percent could save 32,000 strokes a year in the US.

 

In some of these studies, researchers have estimated lowering U.S. sodium intake by about 40 percent over the next decade could save 500,000 lives and nearly $100 billion in healthcare costs.

 

The US food regulator points out that the onus is on food manufacturers and restaurants, which account for most of the sodium intake, and not the salt shaker, to cut levels.

 

“Many Americans want to reduce sodium in their diets, but that’s hard to do when much of it is in everyday products we buy in stores and restaurants,” said Health and Human Services secretary Sylvia Burwell.

 

 “The announcement is about putting power back in the hands of consumers, so that they can better control how much salt is in the food they eat and improve their health.”

 

The voluntary guidance, which will now be discuss with the industry and the public,  includes 150 category reduction targets for different products from bakery products to soups.

 

In the short-term, the FDA said it is feasible to reduce sodium levels to 3,000 mg a day.

 

The guidance has been broadly welcomed by the food industry, though it was quick to point out that it had already made inroads to cut salt levels in the food it offers.

 

Nestlé said that it “agrees with the FDA that broad adoption of the agency's voluntary recommendations by the food industry can create a meaningful reduction in population sodium intake over time and help consumer taste preferences adjust".

 

The Grocery Manufacturers Association, which represents food and beverage companies in the US, said it welcomed talking to the FDA over meeting the targets.

 

Leon Bruner, chief science officer at the GMA, said: “Success in cutting sodium consumption will require a holistic approach that includes actions by manufacturers, retailers and restaurants and that addresses consumer behaviors and preferences."

 

Bruner pointed out the moves already undertaken by the food industry to cut sodium intake, saying it had made “more than 30,000 healthier product choices available to consumers between 2002 and 2013 by reducing sodium, calories, sugar and saturated fat, and increasing whole grains, fruits and vegetables."

 

Likewise, the American Medical Association (AMA) said it welcomed the guidelines, though said they only amounted to a "first step" and has called for further action to be taken.

 

AMA President Steven J. Stack said: "We believe that reducing overall sodium intake will help rein in high blood pressure and help prevent the devastating consequences of heart disease—currently affecting millions of Americans. But today's action is only a first step.”

 

“With most dietary sodium added by food processors and restaurants, even highly-motivated individuals find it difficult to reduce their sodium intake. These voluntary guidelines are blueprint for further action, but the onus is on the food industry to now take the necessary steps to reduce sodium in its products, and help us improve health outcomes for all Americans."

 

The Centre for Science in the Public Interest, the consumer watchdog, also backed the guidelines, though said they fell short of the mandatory measures to reduce sodium content it had called for.

 

“We hope that industry will work cooperatively with the FDA and health experts to achieve the proposed reductions, which would benefit the health of all Americans,” said CSPI president Michael F. Jacobson.

 

“While this is a voluntary approach as opposed to the mandatory approach we asked for and that the Institute of Medicine endorsed, it provides clear goals by which companies can be held accountable. And, it helps level the playing field for those companies that are already trying to use less salt in their foods.”