The Meddling Begins
Posted by Carrie - PI at 4/20/2010 7:11 PM 
Categories: Political
Tags: salt regulation FDA Government
Categories: Political
Tags: salt regulation FDA Government
Now that we have nationalized health care,
the meddling begins:
From today's Rush Limbaugh show:
We can't let this happen. Following is the letter I sent to the FDA. They say they're not actually regulating salt ... yet. But I don't want it to happen at all.
Carrie
============================================================
My name is Carrie, and I'm a concerned citizen from Michigan. I am writing to ask your agency not to issue any federal mandates on the amount of salt in processed foods or restaurant meals. I believe such regulation is both unnecessary and would be a major burden to food producers. I think about the implications of this and my head starts to swim.
Salt is not dangerous in any way. It is a mineral that is required by our bodies. If we get too much of it, our body systems eliminate it as waste. Plus, it tastes good to a lot of people, so what's wrong with that? I happen to like bacon, pepperoni, ham, breakfast sausage, processed cheese, canned spaghetti sauce, tomato paste, potato chips, salty nuts, boxed macaroni and cheese, taco seasoning, barbecue sauce, and popcorn. I love garlic salt on toast and I use popcorn salt on popcorn as well as sea salt with my meals. Regular iodized table salt is good, too.
What follows is a true story. I have added extra salt to most of my foods since I was a child. My mother and father were always taking the salt shaker away from me. Then, when I was a patient at Mayo Clinic, it was discovered that my body does not assimilate salt as readily as normal people. My doctor said, "Just eat as much as you want. Your body will tell you when you've had enough and eliminate the excess." He also told me that salt in no way causes high blood pressure. It only aggravates the condition in those who already have it. I eat much more salt than the U.S. RDA, but I have no trace of either hypertension or heart disease.
Requiring lower levels of sodium in most foods would be harmful to my health, even if you don't prohibit salt shakers on the table. Besides which, you can't just add table salt to a meal and get the flavor you want. Any chef knows that. I tried adding salt to a pepperoni pizza one time, and it was plain awful. I could barely eat the thing. Now I just get a double helping of pepperoni when I can. Different ingredients create different flavors, and may add sodium on top of it. But that's part of the art -- may I say, process -- of creating a food item. People who create recipes know what tastes good, and if other people like their product, they buy it. There's nothing inherently wrong with that.
What gives your agency the right to tell me how much salt in any food product is too much? What gives your agency the right to dictate to every food producer and restaurant in the country how much sodium they can serve their patrons? I would argue you do not have that right. You are neither my mother nor my doctor. It's totally OK to have regulations about what the sodium content must be to be advertised as "low salt" or "sodium free." Those already exist. Have all the classifications you want!
Here's the thing: if I want to eat a Personal Pan Pepperoni Lovers pizza from Pizza Hut, which contains 1,760 mg of sodium, I should retain my liberty to do that. I don't want the FDA telling Pizza Hut how much sodium their food may contain. Two years ago Frito Lay brought out low salt versions of its snack foods like Ruffles Potato Chips. I don't want the FDA to tell them they have to further reduce the salt content of their regular chips, though. You have no right to do that. Urge (but don't require) food producers to offer low salt options, sure. Educate consumers about low salt diets, sure. But stay out of our way at the restaurant and the factory! Let them make the products they want to make. They're hurting no one.
I recognize that I may make zero impact with this e-mail against the gallons of ink that are being spilled by well-meaning advocates on the other side. Nevertheless, I had to offer my point of view. I reiterate: Many people in the world may need less salt. There will always be options for them. Some of us need a larger amount of salt. People like me deserve options, too. Restaurants and food producers never advertise "extra salt," you know. But they do advertise much "low sodium" stuff. Let the people who need less salt buy the low sodium stuff, and leave me alone with the regular stuff, okay?
Full disclosure, yes. Inflexible restrictions, no way! Let consumer freedom rule the day!
From today's Rush Limbaugh show:
| Quote: |
U.S. regulators are planning a push to gradually cut the amount of salt Americans consume, saying less sodium would reduce deaths from hypertension and heart disease, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday. |
We can't let this happen. Following is the letter I sent to the FDA. They say they're not actually regulating salt ... yet. But I don't want it to happen at all.
Carrie
============================================================
My name is Carrie, and I'm a concerned citizen from Michigan. I am writing to ask your agency not to issue any federal mandates on the amount of salt in processed foods or restaurant meals. I believe such regulation is both unnecessary and would be a major burden to food producers. I think about the implications of this and my head starts to swim.
Salt is not dangerous in any way. It is a mineral that is required by our bodies. If we get too much of it, our body systems eliminate it as waste. Plus, it tastes good to a lot of people, so what's wrong with that? I happen to like bacon, pepperoni, ham, breakfast sausage, processed cheese, canned spaghetti sauce, tomato paste, potato chips, salty nuts, boxed macaroni and cheese, taco seasoning, barbecue sauce, and popcorn. I love garlic salt on toast and I use popcorn salt on popcorn as well as sea salt with my meals. Regular iodized table salt is good, too.
What follows is a true story. I have added extra salt to most of my foods since I was a child. My mother and father were always taking the salt shaker away from me. Then, when I was a patient at Mayo Clinic, it was discovered that my body does not assimilate salt as readily as normal people. My doctor said, "Just eat as much as you want. Your body will tell you when you've had enough and eliminate the excess." He also told me that salt in no way causes high blood pressure. It only aggravates the condition in those who already have it. I eat much more salt than the U.S. RDA, but I have no trace of either hypertension or heart disease.
Requiring lower levels of sodium in most foods would be harmful to my health, even if you don't prohibit salt shakers on the table. Besides which, you can't just add table salt to a meal and get the flavor you want. Any chef knows that. I tried adding salt to a pepperoni pizza one time, and it was plain awful. I could barely eat the thing. Now I just get a double helping of pepperoni when I can. Different ingredients create different flavors, and may add sodium on top of it. But that's part of the art -- may I say, process -- of creating a food item. People who create recipes know what tastes good, and if other people like their product, they buy it. There's nothing inherently wrong with that.
What gives your agency the right to tell me how much salt in any food product is too much? What gives your agency the right to dictate to every food producer and restaurant in the country how much sodium they can serve their patrons? I would argue you do not have that right. You are neither my mother nor my doctor. It's totally OK to have regulations about what the sodium content must be to be advertised as "low salt" or "sodium free." Those already exist. Have all the classifications you want!
Here's the thing: if I want to eat a Personal Pan Pepperoni Lovers pizza from Pizza Hut, which contains 1,760 mg of sodium, I should retain my liberty to do that. I don't want the FDA telling Pizza Hut how much sodium their food may contain. Two years ago Frito Lay brought out low salt versions of its snack foods like Ruffles Potato Chips. I don't want the FDA to tell them they have to further reduce the salt content of their regular chips, though. You have no right to do that. Urge (but don't require) food producers to offer low salt options, sure. Educate consumers about low salt diets, sure. But stay out of our way at the restaurant and the factory! Let them make the products they want to make. They're hurting no one.
I recognize that I may make zero impact with this e-mail against the gallons of ink that are being spilled by well-meaning advocates on the other side. Nevertheless, I had to offer my point of view. I reiterate: Many people in the world may need less salt. There will always be options for them. Some of us need a larger amount of salt. People like me deserve options, too. Restaurants and food producers never advertise "extra salt," you know. But they do advertise much "low sodium" stuff. Let the people who need less salt buy the low sodium stuff, and leave me alone with the regular stuff, okay?
Full disclosure, yes. Inflexible restrictions, no way! Let consumer freedom rule the day!
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