New York's War on Salt

New York is going after yet another dietary bête noire: salt. This week, Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration announced a plan to require warning labels for high-sodium food items on menus in chain restaurants and concession stands. Under the proposal, dishes containing more than 2,300 milligrams of sodium—the recommended total daily limit—will be denoted with a salt shaker icon. If the measure passes, New York would become the first U.S. city to adopt such a rule.

The move has de Blasio following in the footsteps of his predecessor, Michael Bloomberg, who banned trans fats, required calorie counts, and pushed unsuccessfully for a cap on soft-drink size during his time in the mayor’s office. Call it an autocratic crusade, nanny-state intrusion, or good public-health sense, but there’s no question that New York’s proactive stance helped nudge the FDA toward its nationwide menu-labeling rule and trans fat phase-out.