The FDA’s goal is to lower salt or sodium consumption to levels below the recommended guidelines.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is taking the next step in encouraging food manufacturers to reduce the salt content in their products.
Ultimately, the FDA aims to reduce the amount of salt, or sodium as Americans typically refer to it, that consumers eat in order to decrease the rate of premature deaths from conditions such as high blood pressure, a major cause of heart disease and stroke.
Today (15 August), the government agency launched “phase II” of its voluntary guidelines, with the objective of reducing the daily intake of salt to approximately 2,750 milligrams per day over the next two and a half years.
If achieved, this would represent a 20% reduction from the levels of consumption in 2021, when the first phase was implemented. However, 2,750 mg/day would still exceed the 2,300 mg/day recommended by the Dietary Guidelines for Americans organisation for people aged 14 years and older.
Based on data from 2010, the FDA set out in October 2021 to reduce sodium consumption from 3,400 mg/day to 3,000 mg/day within a 2.5-year timeframe, which ended in April this year.
“The initial set of targets [phase I] encouraged the food industry to reduce sodium levels in a wide variety of processed, packaged, and prepared foods,” the FDA stated.
“The phase II targets will continue to focus on commercially processed, packaged, and prepared foods available in the marketplace. This guidance is particularly relevant as more than 70% of sodium intake in the US population comes from sodium added during food manufacturing and commercial food preparation.”
Despite the introduction of phase II, the FDA suggested there is still progress to be made on phase I, although the data referenced is two years old.
“Preliminary data from 2022 show about 40% of the initial Phase I targets are very close to, or have already been reached, indicating early success of this effort,” the FDA reported.
However, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), the non-profit food watchdog, expressed that it “would like to have seen the FDA set a more aggressive target” for phase II.
Jim Jones, the deputy commissioner for human foods at the FDA, commented: “Reducing sodium in the food supply has the potential to be one of the most important public health initiatives in a generation.
“The early successes we’re seeing with sodium level reduction in certain foods is encouraging and indicative of the impact we believe our overall nutrition approach can have on the wellbeing of society.”
Assessing the FDA’s conclusions on sodium reduction to date, the CSPI said in a statement: “Most of the decreases in sodium content in the US food supply appear to have occurred in packaged foods as opposed to in restaurants, where nearly half of food categories increased in sodium, more than the fraction that decreased.
“Overall, CSPI says that this could represent modest progress over the FDA’s baseline of 2010.”
Dr Peter Lurie, the watchdog’s president, added: “The targets proposed today by the FDA are a definite step in the right direction, but could have been more ambitious.
“But success will only be achieved if we go beyond targets to enact a comprehensive strategy that involves outreach to industry, especially the restaurant industry, as well as monitoring the industry’s progress and reporting in detail to the public which food companies and restaurants are making progress with their products, and which remain the worst offenders.”
Jones also noted that the agency is working on finalising an update on the rules governing the definition of ‘healthy’ for food products and the parameters for front-of-pack labelling. Additionally, it is “exploring ways to reduce added sugars consumption”.
He added: “The FDA’s sodium reduction and other nutrition initiatives are central to a broader, whole-of-government approach to help reduce the burden of diet-related chronic diseases and advance health equity.”
The FDA’s sodium reduction efforts are part of the government’s National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition and Health, which aims to reduce diet-related diseases by 2030.
The Consumer Brands Association, representing US food and drink manufacturers, told Food Future that it is reviewing the FDA’s next steps and is “engaging with our members to discuss the next steps”.
