New York City Health Board Backs Warning on Menu Items With High Salt
By BENJAMIN MUELLER and MICHAEL M. GRYNBAUM

The New York City Board of Health unanimously approved a measure on Wednesday that will require many chain restaurants to post a warning label on menu items that have a high sodium content.

The rule — believed to be the first of its kind in the country — will employ the common saltshaker, encased in a black triangle, as the warning symbol to be placed next to any menu item that contains more than 2,300 milligrams of sodium, the daily limit many nutritionists recommend.

Health experts said the measure would help combat heart disease and set a new standard for nutritional transparency that could soon be widely adopted.

Offerings as varied as a large turkey club at Quiznos (5,820 milligrams) and a half-rack of ribs at T.G.I. Friday’s (2,420 milligrams) will be marked with the warning, a step that health experts said would show New Yorkers just how much salt was hidden in seemingly unobjectionable dishes.

City officials said they hope other cities will move to adopt a similar system. New York City is seen as a bellwether in public-health policies, and previous initiatives, like the posting of calorie counts on menus and a ban on trans fats, have been widely embraced across the country.

“Many others recognize the important public health impact of excess sodium intake, and I am hopeful that others will follow suit,” Dr. Mary T. Bassett, the city’s health commissioner, said at a news conference on Wednesday.

Dr. Bassett said the salt warnings would help address “the leading cause of death in the United States and in our city,” referring to heart disease, and noted that overconsumption of sodium was “a principle driver” of higher premature mortality rates among black and Latino New Yorkers.

The measure was the first step by Mayor Bill de Blasio into the kind of pioneering health policies that were often pushed by his predecessor, Michael R. Bloomberg. It is set to take effect on Dec. 1, barring litigation from opponents, and violators would be punished by a $200 fine, enforced by city health inspectors.

The warnings will affect restaurants with 15 establishments or more across the country, along with some movie theaters and ballpark concession stands. Over 75 percent of dietary sodium comes from packaged and restaurant foods, and health officials said they focused on chain restaurants because they served a disproportionate share of restaurant meals in the city.

Restaurants will also be expected to post a warning label noting that the consumption of large amounts of sodium can increase the risk of heart disease and stroke.

“High sodium levels in the diet is one of the single biggest health problems in this country,” said Michael Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a nutrition group.

The city’s warnings, Mr. Jacobson added, “will set a very important precedent and get the restaurant industry to really think about what they’re serving their customers.”

Seattle requires chain restaurants to give diners a sodium count and other nutritional information, but Mr. Jacobson called New York City’s plan “much more attention-getting.” The saltshaker must be in a triangle “as wide as it is tall,” according to the new regulations, “and equal in height to the largest letter in the food item’s name.”

Mr. Jacobson said setting the threshold at 2,300 milligrams — about a teaspoon of salt — was a lenient target.

But restaurant groups, which have long battled efforts to regulate residents’ eating habits, said the new warnings created a tangle of local regulations that were onerous for national chains.

Melissa Fleischut, president of the New York State Restaurant Association, said it would be better for the city to abide by federal labeling regulations agreed to by the Food and Drug Administration, which require calorie counts to be posted on certain restaurants’ menus. She said there were no plans for a legal challenge.

“I understand the city Board of Health is very pleased to lead the way on these nutritional initiatives,” Ms. Fleischut said, “but what we see is that it ends up creating a patchwork of regulations across multiple states.”

But opposition to the measure was not uniform among major restaurant chains, perhaps signaling a growing sense that many diners want more information about what they are eating.

Panera Bread, which has 1,900 restaurants across the country, said it welcomed the sodium warnings as aligned with its goal of providing more “menu transparency.”

紐約新規定：餐點鹽分太多 要標警語

紐約市衛生委員會9日全票通過新規定，連鎖餐飲店菜單必須在鈉含量超過每日建議攝取量的產品加註提醒標誌。

紐約將成為全美第一個在菜單中附有鹽份超量警告標籤的城市。由於新規定針對在全美有15家以上店面的連鎖餐飲店，因此，紐約市大多數中餐館將不受影響。

一般認為，每人通常每日鈉攝取量應該不超過2300毫克。醫療專家稱，如果超過每天攝取標準，將會增加心血管疾病和中風風險。紐約市衛生專員巴塞特說：「對紐約來說，這是很重要的一天，是促進公共健康的一大步。」

這項增加含鹽量警告標籤的創新政策，將在12月1日開始執行，違規者罰200美元（約台幣6600元）。警告標籤是三角形中有一個鹽瓶，同時註明，食物中的鈉含量超出每日建議量。

巴塞特認為這些警告標籤很重要，因為很多用餐消費者並不知道食物中的鈉含量很高。她舉例，漢堡連鎖店Red Robin銷售的「鹽王焦糖奶昔」含有3448毫克鈉。她說：「即使奶飲中含鈉量也超過每日標準，只是人們不知道而已。」

新規定僅適用於在全美至少有15家以上分店的餐飲連鎖店，包括餐館、酒吧和劇院。

紐約州餐館協會對新規定表示失望。協會主席梅麗莎．弗萊舒特說：「紐約州的餐館必須越過這些沒完沒了的新障礙，這些刁難的新法規會讓餐館行業愈來愈難做」。

但是，美國心臟學會說：「希望其他州能緊隨紐約州的腳步，在菜單上面註明鹽量警告標籤」。

紐約近年帶頭要求餐飲業者加強產品熱量標示，另外推動禁用反式脂肪，但禁止大瓶裝汽水的努力受挫。

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/10/nyregion/new-york-city-health-board-approves-sodium-warnings-on-menus.html

2015-09-10．聯合晚報 國際新聞組