The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has released guidance on limiting sodium in processed and packaged foods. “Limiting certain nutrients, such as sodium, in our diets plays a crucial role in preventing diseases like hypertension and cardiovascular disease that disproportionately impact racial and ethnic minority groups; these diseases often result in hundreds of thousands of lives lost and billions in annual health care costs,” the agency stated in a press release. The statement notes that “people consume 50% more sodium than recommended,” and “about 70% of the sodium we eat comes from packaged, processed and restaurant foods.”
“[W]e recognize that most of the food consumption in the U.S. comes from a relatively small number of products and menu items in the marketplace that are produced by a limited number of food manufacturers,” the guidance states. “It is possible that reformulation by these food manufacturers could lead to increased demand for lower-sodium versions of ingredients used to produce packaged and prepared foods.” FDA notes that it specifically targets two categories of food producers with the guidance: (i) “[f]ood manufacturers whose products make up a significant proportion of national sales in one or more categories” and (ii) “[r]estaurant and similar retail food chains that are national or regional in scope.”