Salt Assault! Lawmaker Wants Salt Banned From Restaurants

Back in January, health crusader Mayor Bloomberg launched a "voluntary" initiative encouraging fast food joints like Subway and supermarket chains like Food Emporium to cut the salt in hundreds of store brand products. The Salt Institute was outraged, Curtis Sliwa drank salt in protest, and panicked New Yorkers began hoarding salt in earnest (not really). But the initiative was voluntary, and lacked a certain, shall we say, despotism. Well, according to Reason's blog, NY Assemblyman Felix Ortiz (D-Brooklyn) is kicking it up a notch by proposing a law fully banning "the use of salt by restaurants in the preparation of food." Now that's some hardcore legislating, or should we say legisalting? (Sorry.)

Bill A10129, introduced on Friday in the New York state assembly, would impose a civil penalty of up to $1,000 on any restaurateur caught sneaking the deadly white powder into their food. And it's clear where this is going: The fastidious Prohibition-era speakeasy trend has just about run its course, so next up are the salteasies, where refined gentlemen and ladies can repair to savor the exotic pleasures of that proscribed condiment once favored by Pharaohs and Fry Guys alike! (Those who can't afford these exclusive underground salt "cuppings" will have to make do with a simple salt flask.) [Hat tip The Awl/JoeMyGod]

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By John Del Signore in Food on March 10, 2010 12:25 PM

Comments [rss]

Susan

We allowed this to happen when we allowed the government to tell us to buckle up in the 80s, wear helmets in the 90s, stop smoking in the 00s and now here we are in the 10s where they want to tax soda and ban salt. It's the logical progression.

Anyway, for those who wish to voice their concerns to Mr. Ortiz, here is his contact page: http://assembly.state.ny.us/mem/?ad=51&sh=contact

wow 14th street

What salt does is take the natural moisture out of

your arterial linings that's why to much salt over too long a period of time gives you arterial diseases,like stroke & heart attack & salt contributes to stomach cancer.

Now for my pizza and pepperoni.

Cannibal

Ghey.

moral_fibers

Salty Dawgs

Meinfuhrer

Ortiz, typical liberal scum megalomanic, trying to impose his Totalitarian pathology upon the masses. Take this guy out. Really. Send a message.

NannyState

Jawohl, Meinfuhrer!

Greenpoint60

If Ortiz has an issue with salt he should eat at home or brown bag his lunch. You will never be able to ban salt from a kitchen, besides most processed foods are already crammed full of sodium before they even hit the pan. Ortiz needs a crash course on the sodium content in processed food

Robin

What if the recipe expressly requires a certain quantity of salt?

NannyState

Use crack instead. Crack's already illegal so why not shoot for the higher price point and repeat business?

Amanda Harletsch

are we talking about salt or MSGs?!

There is a DIFFERENCE.

If is salt, this bill is plainly ABSURD!

Greenpoint60

Watch the chef in the Chinese take out joint use the jumbo spoon to pick up MSG and pour it into the wok.

As far as salt is concerned, take the time and patience to count your sodium intake for a week. I bet it will exceed the reccomened amt. of 2,400 mg per day

Amanda Harletsch

not that there is a scientific consensus on the risks of MSGs, but some people truly distrusts the additives:

http://www.holisticmed.com/msg/TheErbreportonMSGtotheWHO.pdf

Greenpoint60

Ortiz is a jerk, but I bet the people who have commented here dont have a remote clue as to their sodium consumption.

Pachinko

Uh oh, here comes the Salt Police with his tongue sticking out. How absurd. The human body needs salt to function.

Guest

so as far as i understand, logically, mr. ortiz most likely used to eat foods with lots of salt in them and found out one day that these "salty" foods are doing him harm. so he bans the use of salt for himself and he feels infinitely better, so now *"the most logical thing" for him to do is to make everyone do what he did...

...b/c to him, we all look, think, and feel the same way. of course, we're all very much alike mr. ortiz here, and there's no difference.

i cannot believe that someone with such lack of common sense (or 'human'-ness) is our friggin' assemblyman...

*it may be called "logic" by mr. ortiz, alone.

Guest

got a better idea: let's BAN idiotic politicians, starting with mr. ortiz. it will save lives. and brains.

Boogie Down

In a perfect world.

izsosick

who cooks for felix ortiz? a chef w/o a tongue?

let's ban sugar and white flour while we're at it!

wobbleSmith

this is great! i was getting so tired of making so decisions. now, when can i get a government official installed in my apartment to help me get dressed in the morning?

AspieSociologist

It is incredibly obvious that this guy doesn't cook. If he did cook, he would know that salt is an essential ingredient, not just for taste, but for the basic chemistry of cooking food. Plus if he just banned crystal salt, well, then, ok, many restaurants would switch over to salt-containing things like soy sauce.

Limiting personal salt intake is a good idea, and requiring that kind of information be available is fine by me. After moving out of the City, I actually miss the calorie counts in fast food joints. But banning salt is stupid.