The National Restaurant Association is taking New York City’s health department to court. The organization announced its plans to file a lawsuit over the city’s requirement that chain restaurants with 15 or more locations display a warning symbol if a menu item exceeds 2,300 milligrams of salt.
The rule passed unanimously in September and took effect Tuesday. Restaurants that serve more than the recommended amount of sodium aren’t in danger of being penalized, but must put a salt shaker inside a triangle on items that surpass the mark. The warning was recommended by New York healthy officials after stating that diners consume too much salt on a daily basis, which can lead to heart disease, stroke, and hypertension.
The legal conflict appears similar to the 2012 rule limiting the size of sugary drinks by the city’s Board of Health. The NRA, along with other organizations, sued to block the regulation, with the New York State Court of Appeals saying the board “exceeded the scope of its regulatory authority.”
The NRA argued during the sodium rule’s public comment period that this move was the same in form. It also noted that the Affordable Care Act already requires chains with more than 20 locations to label nutritional information.
