WASHINGTON — A consumer group prodded the Food and Drug Administration on Thursday to regulate salt as a food additive, arguing that excessive salt consumption by Americans may be responsible for more than 100,000 deaths a year.
The government has long placed salt in a “generally recognized as safe,” or GRAS, category, which grandfathers in a huge list of familiar food ingredients. But on Thursday, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) urged the agency to enforce tougher regulations for sodium.
A 2005 petition to the FDA by the CSPI prompted the agency to hold hearings Thursday to review sodium chloride’s status in food.
The average American consumes 3,353 milligrams of sodium every day — more than twice what the Institute of Medicine says is adequate for healthy people and 1,000 milligrams more than the 2,300 milligrams set as a daily limit by the 2005 U.S. Dietary Guidelines.
Salt intake is closely linked to stroke, kidney disease and high blood pressure.
Seventy-five percent of the salt consumed in the United States is found in processed foods bought at grocery stores, vending machines, restaurants and fast-food franchises.
How best to cut sodium in the U.S. diet is greatly debated. CSPI officials advocate more federal regulation. Industry groups want reductions to be voluntary.
