Saying Voluntary Food Industry Efforts Have Failed, CSPI Seeks Mandatory Sodium Cuts

Washington—Claiming that voluntary food industry efforts to reduce sodium have failed, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) is urging the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to adopt mandatory regulations to limit sodium content of various food categories.

CSPI made its recommendation in comments submitted to FDA last Friday. FDA and USDA last year had requested comments and other information about, among other things, issues associated with the development of targets for sodium reduction in foods. The comment deadline was last Friday.

“FDA action to lower sodium consumption is long overdue,” CSPI said. The organization first petitioned FDA in 1978 to reduce salt in packaged and restaurant foods, in part by revoking the Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) status of salt and regulating salt as a food additive.

Over the last several years, some companies have voluntarily pledged to reduce sodium in their products, CSPI noted.

To examine the industry’s voluntary efforts, in 2005, CSPI began monitoring the sodium content of foods in various food categories; its report, Salt Assault, compared the amount of sodium in different brands of similar products.

Last year, CSPI resurveyed the 500 foods included in Salt Assault. Of those products, compared to 2008 levels, 152 had less sodium, 232 products were...more