Perhaps taking the health of its citizens way too seriously, New York is considering banning the use of salt in food.
A member of the city’s legislative assembly has introducing a bill that would ban the use of salt in restaurant kitchens.
Bill A10129 would forbid the city’s chefs from using salt in any of their recipes. The ban’s proposer, Felix Ortiz, a Democratic member from Brooklyn, says it would give consumers the choice about whether to add salt to their meal.
Restaurants trying to sneak a bit of sodium chloride on to the plate would be fined $1,000 (£600) every time they were caught.
Ortiz’s bill comes on the back of a high-profile attempt by the city’s mayor, Michael Bloomberg, to encourage New Yorkers to consume less sodium. The city estimates about 1.5 million residents already suffer from high blood pressure, which can be exacerbated by overconsumption of salt. In America as a whole, the average daily intake of 3,400mg is well above the recommended maximum of 2,300mg.
Bloomberg’s campaign aims to cut the amount of salt in pre-packaged and restaurant food by a quarter, in five years. Unlike Bill A10129, however, it is purely voluntary.