In New York City, it was a straightforward suggestion that left a lingering aftertaste in many people’s mouths: The city’s Department of Health and Hygiene exhorted restaurants and food manufacturers and the marketers serving them to reduce sodium content in processed foods, recipes and other products.
The official public statement, released in April, cited high blood pressure as a leading cause of cardiovascular disease and called upon these members of private industry to do their part in cutting back on a purely voluntary basis.
Since then, the city’s mission is being taken seriously by the hospitality industry but - perhaps ironically - also with a grain of salt. Whether or not they see merit in the city’s request, a number of hotel restaurateurs, banquet managers and others don’t foresee major upheavals in their kitchens as this low-level battle of the salt shaker shakes out.
“The trend nationally is for manufacturers and fast-food places to enter into voluntary agreement with the government for a targeted five-year reduction,” said Robert Bookman, attorney for the New York State Restaurant Association, whose members include a number of hotel-based establishments.
Bookman, who is based in Manhattan, said the city’s sitdown on the subject this past spring with some industry members and NYSRA representatives, “was very different from the one about trans fats, which was a ban. They started off saying ‘we understand sodium is not something that can be banned. It is a preservative. It is a requirement in many dishes.’
“But they were saying they want to slowly wean people off with some realistic voluntary goals. That way people’s tastes will slowly get used to it. “It doesn’t sound like anything Draconian.”
The official public statement, released in April, cited high blood pressure as a leading cause of cardiovascular disease and called upon these members of private industry to do their part in cutting back on a purely voluntary basis.
Since then, the city’s mission is being taken seriously by the hospitality industry but - perhaps ironically - also with a grain of salt. Whether or not they see merit in the city’s request, a number of hotel restaurateurs, banquet managers and others don’t foresee major upheavals in their kitchens as this low-level battle of the salt shaker shakes out.
“The trend nationally is for manufacturers and fast-food places to enter into voluntary agreement with the government for a targeted five-year reduction,” said Robert Bookman, attorney for the New York State Restaurant Association, whose members include a number of hotel-based establishments.
Bookman, who is based in Manhattan, said the city’s sitdown on the subject this past spring with some industry members and NYSRA representatives, “was very different from the one about trans fats, which was a ban. They started off saying ‘we understand sodium is not something that can be banned. It is a preservative. It is a requirement in many dishes.’
“But they were saying they want to slowly wean people off with some realistic voluntary goals. That way people’s tastes will slowly get used to it. “It doesn’t sound like anything Draconian.”
