on April 22, 2010 |
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Topics: Cardiovascular, Service Lines
In hopes of reducing the incidence of cardiovascular disease, The Institute of Medicine (IOM) has recommended that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) set stricter standards for the amount of salt that food manufacturers, restaurants, and food service companies can add to their products. In the report, the IOM advises the FDA to gradually reduce the maximum amount of salt that can be added to food and drinks so that consumers are less likely to notice the change in taste. The FDA has yet to decide whether they will place limits on the amount of salt that can be added to food, drinks and meals or adopt alternative strategies to reduce salt intake.
One approach that has proved to be successful in the United Kingdom is to develop partnerships with food manufactures. More specifically, the Consensus Action on Salt and Health group and the Food Standards Agency encouraged food manufacturers to voluntarily reduce the amount of sodium added to food and to provide information about salt content at the point of purchases. The agencies complemented these efforts with education campaigns that emphasized the risks of excessive sodium consumption and encouraged consumers to examine salt content on packaging. This multi-pronged and collaborative approach has proved highly successful, daily salt intake has declined by 10 percent (from 9.5g to 8.5g) since 2003.
