Salt—the New Trans

As many folks in product and menu development have gleaned over the last couple of years, sodium is quickly shaping up to be the next trans fat—the health-related ingredient that legislators cozy up to and seek to better control. Such sentiment was clear during the recent Worlds of Flavor gathering at the Culinary Institute of America, where Dr. Walter Willett spoke on this subject, suggesting that legislators may take a similar law-based approach to dealing with the notoriously high levels of sodium in some foods.

Many of those in attendance—representing such chains as Panera, Dunkin’ Donuts, Starbucks, Applebee’s, McDonald’s and Uno Chicago Grill—favor more of a proactive, “stealthy healthy” approach to dealing with nutritional concerns in foodservice.

In the wake of trans-fat legislation, which the National Restaurant Association estimates has cost foodservice suppliers upward of $1 billion, requiring baseline sodium reductions in restaurant and/or retail foods would strike the industry at a time when it is already facing serious adversity due to the current economic climate.