US Government & FDA To Dictate What You Can Eat!

[Obama 2012 1,714]

U.S. regulators are planning a push to gradually cut the amount of salt Americans consume, saying less sodium would reduce deaths from hypertension and heart disease, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday.

The effort would eventually lead to the first legal limits on the amount of salt allowed in processed foods, the newspaper reported. The plan is to be launched this year but officials have not set salt limits.

The government plans to work with the food industry and health experts to reduce sodium gradually over a period of years to ratchet down sodium consumption, the newspaper said, citing U.S. Food and Drug Administration sources.

U.S. researchers said in a recent study that working with the food industry to cut salt intake by nearly 10 percent could prevent hundreds of thousands of heart attacks and strokes over several decades and save the U.S. government $32 billion in healthcare costs.

Eating too much salt is a major cause of high blood pressure, which the Institute of Medicine, one of the National Academies of Sciences, last week declared a "neglected disease" that costs the U.S. health system $73 billion a year.

The FDA, which regulates most processed foods, and the U.S. Agriculture Department, which oversees meat and poultry, will work together on the effort to reduce Americans' sodium consumption.

Manufacturers can now use as much salt as they like in products but they are required to report the amount on nutrition labels.

Many food makers have already begun to cut salt content.

In March, PepsiCo Inc, which owns the Pepsi, Frito-Lay and Quaker brands, announced that it plans a reduction of 25 percent in the average sodium per serving in major global food brands in key markets by 2015.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,591285,00.html

Edited April 20, 2010 by Paul and Vanessa

[Ali G. 37]

Why is it that to some in this country, such positive actions are perceived to be a bad thing?

[ValerieA 350]

The FDA already dictates what can be sold to you to eat...

If you want more salt in your food, pick up the shaker.

[Dan J 277]

U.S. regulators are planning a push to gradually cut the amount of salt Americans consume, saying less sodium would reduce deaths from hypertension and heart disease, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday.

The effort would eventually lead to the first legal limits on the amount of salt allowed in processed foods, the newspaper reported. The plan is to be launched this year but officials have not set salt limits.

The government plans to work with the food industry and health experts to reduce sodium gradually over a period of years to ratchet down sodium consumption, the newspaper said, citing U.S. Food and Drug Administration sources.

U.S. researchers said in a recent study that working with the food industry to cut salt intake by nearly 10 percent could prevent hundreds of thousands of heart attacks and strokes over several decades and save the U.S. government $32 billion in healthcare costs.

Eating too much salt is a major cause of high blood pressure, which the Institute of Medicine, one of the National Academies of Sciences, last week declared a "neglected disease" that costs the U.S. health system $73 billion a year.

The FDA, which regulates most processed foods, and the U.S. Agriculture Department, which oversees meat and poultry, will work together on the effort to reduce Americans' sodium consumption.

Manufacturers can now use as much salt as they like in products but they are required to report the amount on nutrition labels.

Many food makers have already begun to cut salt content.

In March, PepsiCo Inc, which owns the Pepsi, Frito-Lay and Quaker brands, announced that it plans a reduction of 25 percent in the average sodium per serving in major global food brands in key markets by 2015.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,591285,00.html

Are you volunteering to pay higher premiums/healthcare costs to protect your right to high sodium consumption?

[lostinblue 1,989]

The FDA already dictates what can be sold to you to eat...

If you want more salt in your food, pick up the shaker.

Or you could buy low salt food.

[that_girl 9]

If you want more salt in your food, pick up the shaker.

and find something actually outrageous by which to be outraged. Geez.

[Obama 2012 1,714]

There are already plenty of low sodium content foods out there.

Also, it's not the job of the government to dictate what I can/cannot put into my body. Yeah, sure they do in some ways now, but to force change in the way products are made already is absurd. There's already too much ####### that's kept off the market as it is due to the ##### society we live in when it comes to certain foods and how they effect us.

The argument here and the problem I have with this type of bullshit is it's in the name of 'health care.'

Screw this government and their wanting to not only dictate health care, now dictating what we can't eat to protect their eventual health care takeover. It's horseshit.

[that_girl 9]

There are already plenty of low sodium content foods out there.

Also, it's not the job of the government to dictate what I can/cannot put into my body. Yeah, sure they do in some ways now, but to force change in the way products are made already is absurd. There's already too much ####### that's kept off the market as it is due to the ##### society we live in when it comes to certain foods and how they effect us.

The argument here and the problem I have with this type of bullshit is it's in the name of 'health care.'

Screw this government and their wanting to not only dictate health care, now dictating what we can't eat to protect their eventual health care takeover. It's horseshit.

It's not like they're sending agents into your house to monitor your salt intake, or implanting you with a microchip. They're not telling you what to eat at all. They're telling food manufacturers how to manufacture food to be more safe and healthy. No one's stopping you from just pouring a whole durn canister of table salt down your throat.

We could stop the gov't from monitoring meat processing plants, too, if you have a problem with gov't regulations on processing food.

[Ali G. 37]

There are already plenty of low sodium content foods out there.

Also, it's not the job of the government to dictate what I can/cannot put into my body. Yeah, sure they do in some ways now, but to force change in the way products are made already is absurd. There's already too much ####### that's kept off the market as it is due to the ##### society we live in when it comes to certain foods and how they effect us.

The argument here and the problem I have with this type of bullshit is it's in the name of 'health care.'

Screw this government and their wanting to not only dictate health care, now dictating what we can't eat to protect their eventual health care takeover. It's horseshit.

Paul that's a straw man argument. The government is not telling you what to eat. What it is doing is setting the bar higher for US food and eventually quality of life. As it stands, the United States has some of the unhealthiest food in the first world; hence your obesity rate and lower quality of life. Actually, it's doing what republics do best, improving the quality of life for Americans.

It's mind boggling that you'd rather a corporation set the standard.

Edited April 20, 2010 by Ali G.

[Obama 2012 1,714]

Paul that's a straw man argument. The government is not telling you what to eat. What it is doing is setting the bar higher for US food and eventually quality of life. As it stands, the United States has some of the unhealthiest food in the first world; hence your obesity rate and lower quality of life. Actually, it's doing what republics do best, improving the quality of life for Americans.

It's mind boggling that you'd rather a corporation set the standard.

Actually I'd rather the people set the standard in what they buy.

Obviously McDonalds is popular for a reason. Obviously Potato chips are popular for a reason. Obviously soda is popular for a reason, etc...

I actually eat quite a healthy diet myself because I choose to do so, just like everyone else has a choice.

I don't need to be dictated the content of the food I choose to buy because maybe I want something ridiculously junky from somewhere sometimes.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Come on.... this hardly amounts to a "dictate". Seriously can people get any sillier or more melodramatic

If it were - you would be taken to jail if you decided to empty the salt shaker into your mouth. Seriously Paul, if you want to do that - go right ahead!

Some regulation is necessary and reasonable - if reducing the amount of salt in manufactured (processed) foods reduces incidences of hypertension and heart disease (one of the biggest killers in most, if not all industrialized countries) why is this a bad thing?

Would you rather that the FDA be disbanded and manufacturers adhere to no standards for food quality? Sure... I'd love to buy meat with 50% added water - what value for money! Oh and don't worry about what pesticides and preservatives are used in our produce. So what if it causes cancer in lab rats, people aren't rats - so there's no problem!

Cut regulation and supposedly quality will come out of competition. Yeah right. It's just a shame that what works in theory doesn't seem to apply to the real world.

Bloody libertarians and their naive idealism.

[waterpupy 5]

If the goverment is going to start limiting on the amount of salt allowed in processed foods, they should do the same with high frutose corn syrup. That ####### is worse for you and it's everything in this country, even in stuff the food companies would never dream of putting sugar in.

[The_Dude 1,142]

There are already plenty of low sodium content foods out there.

Also, it's not the job of the government to dictate what I can/cannot put into my body. Yeah, sure they do in some ways now, but to force change in the way products are made already is absurd. There's already too much ####### that's kept off the market as it is due to the ##### society we live in when it comes to certain foods and how they effect us.

The argument here and the problem I have with this type of bullshit is it's in the name of 'health care.'

Screw this government and their wanting to not only dictate health care, now dictating what we can't eat to protect their eventual health care takeover. It's horseshit.

You can stop the self-righteous indignation. The government is not dictating what you can or cannot eat with this. You are free to add salt to whatever you want to. Heart disease and heart attack are a serious problem in this country and high sodium is a major contributing factor. This is a good use of government authority to improve the quality and standards of our food. From your post, it looks like a low sodium diet would do you and your blood pressure some good.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Actually I'd rather the people set the standard in what they buy.

Obviously McDonalds is popular for a reason. Obviously Potato chips are popular for a reason. Obviously soda is popular for a reason, etc...

I actually eat quite a healthy diet myself because I choose to do so, just like everyone else has a choice.

I don't need to be dictated the content of the food I choose to buy because maybe I want something ridiculously junky from somewhere sometimes.

So where and how was it decided in the US that if you want to buy a soda that it is sweetened with HFCS and not actual sugar?

What if you don't want to buy food that has that HFCS ####### in it? What are your choices? I ask because unless you buy organic (and even then food labelling is tricky and unclear) you have no choice but to eat what is produced; and customer input has zero to do with how the foods you enjoy are manufactured.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

If the goverment is going to start limiting on the amount of salt allowed in processed foods, they should do the same with high frutose corn syrup. That ####### is worse for you and it's everything in this country, even in stuff the food companies would never dream of putting sugar in.

Aha, but why should that be imposed on you. What if you like HFCS, and actually want it in your food?

Damn government regulators! I should be able to eat all the salt, HFCS, MSG, trans fat and Yellow Number 5 I want. In fact, if I had my way - I wouldn't buy food at all - but large containers of salt, lard and chemical colorings and preservatives.