• Washington Post, Wednesday, April 21, 2010 12:16 PM

Two members of Congress are urging the Food and Drug Administration to move quickly to limit the amount of salt in processed foods, calling the matter a "public health crisis" that demands a swift response from government.

"I understand they want to do it in a phased kind of a deal, but I don't want it to be too long," says Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. "This is crying out for change that's long overdue." Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) agrees. "I don't want this to take 10 years," she says. "This is a public health crisis."

"We should be taking in about a teaspoon a day, but we're consuming about a teaspoon and a half, and it's creating tremendous risk in terms of development of hypertension and numerous diseases," according to Jane Henney of the University of Cincinnati, who chaired the panel of experts who wrote a report released yesterday by the Institute of Medicine. The Grocery Manufacturers Association says that it wants to continue voluntary efforts to reduce sodium and that regulation is unnecessary.

Read the whole story at Washington Post »