NEW YORK — Mayor Mike Bloomberg announced the first 16 companies to formally commit to a public-private partnership created to cut salt in packaged and restaurant foods by 25% over five years Monday.
First announced in January, the National Salt Reduction Initiative partnership now includes 18 national health organizations; 29 cities, states and related entities; and food companies including FreshDirect, Goya, Heinz, Kraft Foods, Mars Food, Unilever, Au Bon Pain, Boar’s Head, Hain Celestial, LiDestri, McCain Foods, Red Gold, Starbucks, Subway, Uno Chicago Grill and White Rose.
The NSRI was created with a goal of reducing the nation's salt intake by 20% to prevent many thousands of premature deaths.
Through a year of technical consultation with food industry leaders, the initiative developed specific targets to help companies reduce the salt levels in 62 categories of packaged food and 25 categories of restaurant food.
“By working together over the past two years, we have been able to accomplish something many said was impossible: Setting concrete, achievable goals for salt reduction," Bloomberg said in a statement. "The National Salt Reduction Initiative has the potential to save tens of thousands of lives that otherwise would be lost to cardiovascular disease in coming years."
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