NYC Restaurants Can Keep Salt Warnings Off Menu, Judge Says

Photo by Kai Schreiber

NEW YORK CITY, NY — For now, chain restaurants dotting New York don’t have to label some of their saltiest foods.

On Feb. 24, State Supreme Court Judge Eileen Rakower upheld a new rule passed last year by the NYC Board of Health requiring chains with at least 15 nationwide locations — such as Shake Shack and Five Guys — to put a warning icon next to menu items with at least 2,300 mg of sodium, the Center for Disease Control’s recommended daily limit.

The restaurants would have also been required to post a written explanation of the icon, stating: “High sodium intake can increase blood pressure and risk of heart disease and stroke.”

The rule was supposed to go into effect March 1, but Rakower’s judgement was appealed by the National Restaurant Association, which is arguing the rule is unconstitutional, undemocratic, and would lead to consumer confusion instead of better health.

On Monday, Appellate Division Judge David Friedman issued a temporary stay delaying the roll out of the salt warnings.

S. Preston Ricardo, the Association’s lead attorney on the case, said Tuesday that the matter will be heard again on March 18 by a panel of judges. They will decide if the salt warnings can stay off menus until the Association’s appeal is approved or overturned, possibly later this year, Ricardo said.

“We are confident, despite the stay of enforcement for now, that the court will uphold the sodium warning rule,” the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene said in a statement. “The sodium warning remains critical information New Yorkers need to protect their hearts and their health.”

This isn’t the first time the fast-food industry has duked it out with city government. In 2014, the New York State Court of Appeals struck down then-mayor Michael Bloomberg’s ban on the sale of sodas larger than 16 oz., as reported by the New York Times.