BLOOMBERG IS THE WORST! 1ST HE BANNED SMOKING IN PUBLIC PLACES, THEN THE OIL RESTAURANTS USE, NOW HE'S TRYING TO DICTATE HOW MUCH SALT IS USED! HE'S A CONTROL FREAK!

The City Health Department is shaking up the food industry Monday by giving it tough targets to reduce salt in products by 25% - on everything from bread to bacon.
The plan is voluntary but has national implications because the manufacturers would change their products for all Americans, not just New Yorkers.

"I can't guarantee it will work, but I'm very excited about it," Health Commissioner Thomas Farley said.

The most drastic reductions are for cereals, pretzels, potato chips and canned vegetables, as well as fast-food favorites like fried shrimp and pizza.

Besides lowering blood pressure levels and the likelihood of a heart attack, Farley said, the salt reduction plan offers New Yorkers more choice.

"If they want more salt, they can put it on. They can't take salt out of the food they buy," he said.

The proposed goals came after 60 salt talks between city officials and big-name manufacturers such as Kraft and PepsiCo in the past year.

Companies that commit to the plan have until 2014 to phase in the changes. PepsiCo said it will reduce the salt in Lay's potato chips 25% during the next 18 months.

The salt industry is snubbing the plan as another example of the city's attempt to nanny the nation, noting it has banned trans fat in fast food and required eateries to post calorie counts.

"The call for salt reduction is based on a false notion that there is sufficient evidence to connect salt consumption with cardiovascular disease," said Lori Roman, a spokeswoman for the National Salt Institute.

Michael Alderman, editor of the American Journal of Hypertension, called the city's salt initiative "a stretch based on hope."

"They want to do an experiment on a whole population without a good control," he said. "That's not science."

The restaurant industry, a frequent critic of the city's food policies, favors the plan.

"This is [a] blueprint for how industry and health departments should work together," said Robert Bookman of the New York Restaurant Association.

The city doesn't expect pushback from the Obama administration because the initiative is the brainchild of Thomas Frieden, Farley's predecessor, who is now director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The American Heart Association recommends people consume less than 2,300 milligrams of salt daily - one teaspoon of salt. Health officials say we average 3,400 milligrams daily.