Obama's latest food crackdown: Salt

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Politico:

The Obama administration is teeing up one of its last fights with Big Food — this time over salt.

 

Voluntary targets for how much sodium should be in processed foods, from soup to potato chips, are expected to be released as early as this summer, current and former administration officials tell POLITICO.

 

Reducing salt consumption has long been part of the administration's push to get Americans to eat healthier. But a plan to nudge food companies to take steps to voluntarily reduce sodium in their products, launched seven years ago, has been stalled amid concerns about political blowback and new studies questioning whether salt is actually a pressing health threat. Most of the sodium Americans consume comes from processed foods.

 

One former top FDA official said he believes a lawsuit brought by a consumer advocacy group will finally shake loose the voluntary targets that were completed two years ago but have never been released. The FDA agreed in February to respond by June 1 to the petition from the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

 

That timetable “is the reason for my optimism,” said Michael Landa, former director of the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition and an advocate of government action to reduce sodium.

 

"It remains a priority and it will come out this year," said another former administration official who asked not to be named.

 

FDA spokeswoman Megan McSeveney confirmed the agency is working on voluntary targets for sodium reduction, "which has the potential for major public health gains,” but declined to say when they would be released.