NEW YORK—New York could become the first U.S. city to require warning labels on high-salt dishes at chain restaurants, taking campaigns to cut down on salt into new territory, health officials told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
The city’s Health Department will propose Wednesday that all chain restaurants add a salt-shaker-like symbol on menus next to products that contain more than the recommended daily limit of 2,300 milligrams of sodium, about 1 teaspoon of salt.
Public health advocates hailed the proposal as a pioneering step to tackle a major problem. Salt producers called it off-base, and some restaurateurs said it would needlessly mire already burdened eateries in more bureaucracy. But City Health Commissioner Dr. Mary Travis Bassett said it simply would give customers important information.
There’s a wide variety of food items that would require the warning label under the proposed guidelines. At Panera Bread, for example, the Italian combo sandwich—which includes seared steak, smoked turkey, ham, salami, and onions—has 2,830 mg of sodium, while the sesame jack chicken strips at TGI Friday’s contains 2,700 mg of sodium.
