Today, the FDA marked a milestone of Phase I of its voluntary sodium reduction targets for the food & beverage industry and issued draft guidance for Phase II.
Th agency’s sodium reduction program asks the industry voluntarily to work toward lower levels of sodium in foods. Prior to the program’s start in 2021, consumer intake was approximately 3,400mg per day on average, far higher than the limit recommended by the Dietary Guidelines for Americans of 2,300mg.
One year later, preliminary data 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 agency wrote. However, the FDA did not specify what average sodium intake has been since 2022.
Now, FDA wants industry to aim even lower, setting voluntary targets that would take sodium consumption down to 2,750mg per day, about 20% lower than consumer intake levels prior to 2021.
Some of the targets: Take cottage cheese from the 2022 level of 351mg of sodium per 100g of food down to 310mg; margarine from 733 to 600mg; condensed soup from 628 to 500mg; bacon from 1709 to 1370mg.
“The Phase II targets will continue to focus on commercially processed, packaged, and prepared foods in the marketplace,” today’s news release said. “This guidance is particularly relevant as more than 70% of sodium intake in the U.S. population comes from sodium added during food manufacturing and commercial food preparation.”
“Reducing sodium in the food supply has the potential to be one of the most important public health initiatives in a generation,” said Jim Jones, FDA Deputy Commissioner for Human Foods. “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.”
As part this program, the FDA issued a proposed rule to amend the standards of identity to permit the use of salt substitutes in foods for which salt is a required or optional ingredient, and guidance on use of the term “potassium salt” instead of “potassium chloride” to signal consumers that the ingredient is a salt substitute.
Jones also noted the agency is working on a new rule updating the definition of the claim “healthy,” a proposed rule for front-of-package nutrition labeling and exploring ways to reduce added sugars consumption.
