This can’t be serious:
Some New York City chefs and restaurant owners are taking aim at a bill introduced in the New York Legislature that, if passed, would ban the use of salt in restaurant cooking.
“No owner or operator of a restaurant in this state shall use salt in any form in the preparation of any food for consumption by customers of such restaurant, including food prepared to be consumed on the premises of such restaurant or off of such premises,” the bill, A. 10129 , states in part.
The legislation, which Assemblyman Felix Ortiz , D-Brooklyn, introduced on March 5, would fine restaurants $1,000 for each violation.
Just flat out ridiculous. Why not ban processed flour? And you would not believe the glycemic load on a bake potato.
ItAintEazy
First they came for the smokers, etc., etc….
dmsilev
I wonder whether NYC restaurants will engage in the same sort of civil disobedience that places here in Chicago did when the city banned foie gras. For a while, you could get foie gras on hot dogs, foie gras pizza, foie gras on French toast, etc.
-dms
Punchy
Fry me a river…..
Dork
I thought there were already laws against assault.
/rimshot
I’ll be here all week! Tip the beer jockey!
geg6
You have got to be kidding, right?
And this guy lives in Brooklyn? Has he ever eaten a corned beef sandwich at Katz’s? Is he planning on shutting the place down? There will rioting in the streets.
wag
eliminating salt from your diet will drop the blood pressure, on average, by 4 points. I guess the Assemblyman must take a really broad view of public health, but you’ll get more bang for your buck by prescribing gamma radiation of all food to eliminate food borne diarrheal disease.
But that’s radiation, and MUST be bad…
TrevorB
that is very ambiguous language, so this would include baking soda, and powder, as both of those are salts. Better language would be sodium, but sodium is of course an important element for health. This just shows ignorance on the part of the legislator.
Punchy
Clearly a chemist did not write this. I’m assuming he’s referring to NaCl, but it’s so vague as to outlaw MSG as well. Chinese restaurants would go out of biz all over the place.
PurpleGirl
Yes, they are serious… don’t you know there’s an epidemic of obesity. Gotta keep people from enjoying their food and help them avoid high blood pressure and other disease conditions. /snark
On the other hand it could lead people to use MORE salt than they otherwise would because the food tastes so bad on that first bite that they keep adding salt.
mr. whipple
Dog, I hate these people.
geg6
I’m sorry, but this would kill the NYC restaurant industry. What chef does not season his/her food? What good food is there without seasoning? Who on earth could cook a perfect steak without seasoning it first? No cured meats, no deli foods, no Chinese food. Sushi sometimes comes on a brick of salt as a serving platter (with the added benefit of infusing a little salt into the sushi). What about fish cooked in a salt crust, which is heaven on earth?
Arrrrrrrrrrrrgh! I hate stupidity like this.
MattF
No margaritas, no tequila… ha, ha. Something makes me think that this bill won’t go anywhere.
TooManyJens
I wonder if this is one of those bills that’s being introduced just to make a point, like the “marriage protection” laws banning divorce that gay-rights activists have talked about introducing (and actually did in one state, as I recall). Ortiz may be protesting the trans fat ban. Or, y’know, he could be a lunatic.
Dr. I. F. Stone
This is a pretty good example of the kind of proposed regulation that comes out of many on the Left who believe THEY know what’s best for the average citizen, and it’s up to them to make sure that the average Joe complies with those perceptions. This proposal will die.
EdTheRed
@geg6: Yeah, seasoning has to be done throughout the entire prep and cooking process…you can’t just throw some salt on the finished product and expect it to taste the same as a dish that’s been properly seasoned. Good lord, the most important skill a chef can have is the ability to season well. If by some miracle this bs were to pass and actually be strictly enforced, it would indeed destroy New York’s restaurant industry…literally taking it from first-to-worst in the country, if not the world.
What a steaming pile of horseshit.
Robin G.
I wouldn’t fret. McDonald’s will have this killed stone-dead. Amazing stupidity on display, here.
Shalimar
See mistermix’s entry on Dennis Kucinich from a few hours ago. Only 4 out of 97 bills he has introduced in his career even made it out of committee and only 3 have become law. Just because any of the thousands of state legislators around the country can introduce any stupid crap he/she wants doesn’t mean it has a chance in hell of ever passing. You should see all the idiocy introduced in the Alabama House every year that never gets any publicity at all because it has no support beyond a few morons.
Robin G.
@TooManyJens: You know, I bet that’s it.
El Cid
I think they should require that restaurant foods all be low carbon.
theylivebynight
No one here thinks it’s going to pass. Still, why waste the time even introducing it?
Avi
Well, there goes every kosher meat restaurant in New York. (In addition to particular requirements involving slaughtering and inspection, kosher meat has to be soaked and salted to draw the blood out.)
beltane
Have any of you ever tried homemade soup or bread made without any salt. Nasty.
The idiot who introduced this bill has obviously never cooked anything and does not have a clue what they are talking about. Even cookie recipes include a teaspoon of salt for its chemical properties, not its taste.
Dan B
Here is some commentary from Mr. Ortiz himself:
Source
RedKitten
Absurd — there’s more sodium in canned and processed foods than you’d get in a week’s worth of restaurant meals anyway.
Besides, do you really want to be telling a bunch of CHEFS — who are reputed for mad knife skillz and artistic temperaments — that they can no longer season their food? Good luck with that.
Rathskeller
Do you ever get the sense that legislators come in two major flavors? One flavor is folks like Waxman, Ted Kennedy, or Rahm in it. They’re nice or not nice, competent or less so, but they want to get shit done. The other flavor is people who cannot make it in the real world, so their entire political career consists of posturing, acting, and generally faking their way through it all, folks like Boehner, Cantor, and now this yutz.
It’s not a left/right thing, or a big/small government thing. I honestly have no idea what value this bill could provide, other than rapidly exposing someone who has absolutely no fucking idea how food is made, either at home and in professional restaurants, but he still wants to regulate it.
El Cid
I’m kind of troubled by the amounts of proteins, fats, and oils that are in foods too.
Also, foods can be harmed irreparably by heating.
Robin G.
@Dan B: Oh my God, he really IS that stupid. I obviously wasn’t cynical enough. Wow.
Avi
@El Cid: And don’t forget about that deadly dihydrogen monoxide!
4k
There would be no more smoked foods. I worked in a butcher shop in my teens and we had the smokehouse on site. I remember mixing the brine to inject.
I personally do not use very much salt when I cook for myself but it does help bring out flavor.
@ Dork
I also worked in a bagel store and when I was on the closing shift working alone I would constantly reply to the people who came in saying “Can I get a salted please”
“Sure, c’mon in the back room and I’ll beat the shit out of you, no charge!”
I also would crank call the pay phone that was across the street at the bus stop. “I’m watching you right now…”
ah good times!
And one last thing from my butcher days
SALT IS A PRESERVATIVE, NOT A SPICE OR SEASONING
IT HELPS BRING OUT MORE FLAVOR BUT IT DOESN’T ADD FLAVOR!!!
Shalimar
@Rathskeller: I would actually put Rahm in a third category with people like Karl Rove, John McCain and Joe Lieberman: those who get off on being the ones to wield power even if they really don’t care about the end results of what they do with it. They would be very successful in the real world (people with no morals generally are, depressingly so), but there is more power and control over others in politics.
Dan B
@Robin G.: The sad part is having to acknowledge that, yes, this is par for the course here in Albany . . .
colleeniem
@Avi: I’m embarrassed that it took me forever to figure out what they were talking about.
I was so good in chemistry, too bad it didn’t take.
geg6
@Dan B:
Okay, this guy is about as stupid as they come. He might, in fact, be setting a whole new bar for stupid.
elisathon
So I called my Assemblyperson (Bing) & the aide hadn’t even heard about this yet, she asked if I had a bill number & would I mind reading her the quoted bill language. We have a lot of restaurants, bars, & take out shops here – and food aside, salt-free Margarita Mondays would not be popular.
I think TooManyJens may have hit on it, hopefully Assemblyman Ortiz is doing this to make a point. I can’t think of any district that would support absolutely zero salt – no-salt pepperoni, chorizo, cheeses, no pickles or olives (martinis!), no pretzels or nuts in bars, no ham or bacon!
Never gonna happen, not in NYC.
TooManyJens
@Dan B: Wow. Just … wow. That is spectacular.
No, because why would you want facts to influence law-making?
AhabTRuler
Just thank god that Ortiz’s father didn’t die during sex.
Evinfuilt
@PurpleGirl:
Winner, salt in the right amounts during preparation prevents over usage on the table. Of course, salt is also required to live, so banning it is kinda bad idea.
Yes, some people have high blood pressure and need to moderate their sodium intake. But the worst of the foods are from restaurants using pre-prepared frozen foods/sauces. The same restaurants that had to change their menu’s with the trans-fat ban, ie the places that are always bad and will always be bad for you. This ban would be just stupid. Everyone would flagrantly break it, take it to court and get it over turned, costing the city millions.
Its as intelligent as banning “wheat” because some people are allergic to it. Of course I’m sure this bill was introduced just to get publicity and die. I’m sure someone has also introduced bills attempting to ban dihydrogen monoxide due to all the deaths it causes yearly.
CaseyL
That’s a dumb law. Is there any indication, though, that it has a snowball’s chance in hell of passing? Congresscritters on the state and national levels have a very long history of introducing insanely evil and/or stupid bills, most of which have a half-life of one news cycle. I’ve learned to ignore most of ’em.
Unfortunately, yes I would. As a pre-diabetic, I was warned off high-glycemic load foods about 7 months ago. The good news is keeping weight off is much easier when potatoes, white rice, bread, pasta, and most baked goods are off your personal menu. The bad news is that potatoes, white rice, bread, pasta, and most baked goods are off your personal menu.
OTOH, never have baked potatoes tasted so good as when you give up and sneak one every, oh, 12 weeks.
Evinfuilt
@Rathskeller:
You understand politics very well, what are you doing on a blog, we’re all supposed to be crazy.
Evinfuilt
@CaseyL:
Sweet Potato’s for the win :) Roasted with coarse sea salt and fresh rosemary. Amazing what that swap did for my carb cravings compared to a standard baked potato.
But oh no, I used salt, Ortiz is going to come looking for me. Run to the hills!!!
Alan
What’s interesting to me is I’ve been avoiding salt for years by following conventional wisdom. But recently I read about how by avoiding salt we aren’t getting enough iodine in our diet. So recently I began to supplement with iodine and Wow, what a difference it’s made on me. I didn’t even know I didn’t feel good before I took it. If you’ve cut out iodized salt and don’t eat a lot of seaweed then you probably aren’t getting enough iodine in your diet. I wonder if these brilliant legislators have even considered this.
Not to mention that a high carbohydrate/high sugar diet/high unnatural vegetable fat diet probably has more to do with promoting obesity, heart disease, diabetes and cancer than a high saturated animal fat diet.
MattF
Dihydrogen monoxide is OK… but dioxygen diflouride should probably be illegal.
cat48
The legislature obviously has no cooks, let alone chefs.
bemused
Ridiculous.
High fructose corn sugar & mysterious unpronounceable additives are a hell of a lot more dangerous.
El Cid
Maybe someone could propose regulating / banning pink slime as a ground beef cheap substitute / thinner.
Alex S.
I guess the purpose of this law is to create revenue, it’s not to abolish salt.
El Cid
You people are just dupes of Big Salt.
rageahol
Alan @ 41:
most people in the US (and probably other industrialized countries) get more of their iodine from the chemical leaveners in mass-market breads than they do from iodized salt.
not saying your experience is wrong, but it might be a bit of placebo.
twiffer
um, so no one can make bread anymore? does the man not realize this will put every single resturant and bakery out of business? salt (as understood to most non-chemists and nitpickers) is in just about everything, including most baked goods. can someone in the legislature please stand up and tell this man he’s a fucking moron?
honestly, how is this going to be enforced? this is so incredibaly fucking stupid i’m nearly frothing at the mouth.
Alan
@rageahol:
I don’t think it is a placebo effect. When I say “feel” I really mean more lucid. It’s like I was in a brain fog. I know that sounds weird. But I’ve been taking the iodine for a little over two months ( iodoral 6.25mg) and the supposed change hasn’t worn off. Supposedly, the iodine is necessary for proper thyroid function. Maybe my thyroid was off a bit.
Ash Can
@MattF: OMG, I followed that link and pulled a muscle laughing at that article. Great stuff.
YellowJournalism
Yeah, my first reaction is: which salt?
And the person who said that people would be taking in more salt than before because they’re going to add it afterward is right, unless the law also bans table salt in restaurants. Then people would be smuggling in containers of Kosher or you’d find guys in trenchcoats outside of restaurants going, “Psst! Wanna buy a bag of primo iodized?”
PurpleGirl
The next thing on the list of bad food to tax is pizza… if you didn’t know, NYS is now in the middle of campaign to tax sugar based sodas and drinks. To raise the money needed to fight obesity and its related health problems. I’m very leary of it; the lottery was sold to us as a way to raise extra money for education and it ultimately became the source of most state education funding.
The people who come up with these ideas don’t think beyond the immediate idea to the consequences, both intended and UNINTENDED.
Joel
Looking at this guy’s record, he doesn’t seem like a complete nut.
But this bill is complete foolishness. No science in it at all. Just fucking retarded (apologies to Sarah Palin).
Dr. Squid
The connection between salt and blood pressure is tenuous at best and nonexistent at worst. Someone went over the population study that supposedly linked the two and found that the ‘correlation’ was skewed by an Amazon people and a Masai people. For everyone else – about 50 groups – no correlation.
geg6
@PurpleGirl:
Well, with the salt ban, the pizza ban won’t be needed because how the hell you make pizza crust without salt is beyond me. Two birds with one stone!
slag
If true, this is absurd. Almost as absurd as people who equate nonsense like this with smoking bans. Tell you what, when sodium chloride crystals start flying off people’s plates and spreading through the air causing other people to ingest them against their will, then we’ll ban salt too. Until then, salt bans are stupid while smoking bans are not.
celticdragonchick
@geg6:
So much for baking. Salt is used in pie crusts and about a million other things as a chemically necessary ingredient.
I hope that every restaurant would simply shut down for several days as a protest of this idiocy.
some guy
The Poets of Rhythm approve.
Gina
@Robin G.: Scary isn’t it? But luckily, no one really listens to him apart from rage-a-holic libertarian bloggers looking to poke their readership into apoplexy. And the local NY media, mostly for the same reason.
I wonder if Ortiz will ever run for statewide office, instead of just his local safe seat…
wrb
Well, I’d like it.
I haven’t used salt for years for blood pressure reasons and as a result I find a lot of restraint food inedible.
There is an acquired tolerance for salt both the taste and the effect on blood pressure. So if you aren’t used to it the heavily-salted dish will make you sick and will taste awful too.
robertdsc
@Avi:
I always liked that joke.
Remember November
I’m all for banning MSG ( and Cablevision) but regular NaCL? Man that’s retarded. What about sea salt? Human beings need a modest amount of salts in their diet- but not the triple-salted fries you get at McRonalds, that’s for sure.
someguy
Salt is an enormous cause of hypertension, maybe a contributor to kidney disease, makes diabetes worse, all sorts of stuff. The medical costs from people over-using salt must be enormous. There’s enough salt in food as it is to meet most people’s dietary needs, so I don’t see any reason it shouldn’t be banned.
yellowdog
@wag:
Eliminating salt from your diet will KILL you. It is an essential nutrient. There are conflicting interventional studies on whether or not cutting down on salt lowers blood pressure. It MAY work for SOME people, some of the time.
yellowdog
@someguy: @someguy:
Please cite some studies that show that salt CAUSES hypertension. There are some studies that show a correlation between salt intake and hypertension but correlation is not causation.
sukabi
@AhabTRuler: or curse him that he didn’t… just think of how much stupid could have been avoided if his father had cashed in his chips prior to spilling that particular seed.
The Populist
Ridiculous. When we talk about lost liberty in this country, things like the salt police are a bit ridiculous. No Trans fat, okay. Sugar drinks in schools, fine, but salt is a time honored ingredient in any cook’s food. Too much and the item tastes like shit. Just enough and it is a difference maker.
Say you are a restaurant that uses a rub to marinate your steak. Most rubs USE SALT.
If the nanny’s in government want to seriously go after unhealthy stuff, fine, but salt is an ingredient that can be controlled.
No Joy in Mudville
Easy for you to say, John. The way you eat you figure you’ve got at most two or three years left anyway.
But some of us want to live to be 200, which is our right — it says so somewhere in the Constitution, I don’t know where, but it’s in there. So, we need the help of civic-minded, health-conscious assemblymen (and women).
PS It’s insane for restaurants to be allowed to use or serve butter, red meat, fat, or sugar. Thank goodness, Felix is on the job. I’ve already started planning my 150th birthday party.
Brachiator
@wrb:
I agree that restraint food is generally bad, but restaurant food … yummy, yum, yum!
People don’t eat just to satisfy dietary needs. Why don’t we ban sex, except for discrete acts of procreation, in order to combat STDs?
bago
As a vampire american, this will restrict my diet even further than it already is. I protest!
Remember November
But don’t they know the menace that is Hydrogen Di-Oxide?
BillCinSD
A better bill would have mandated a potassium to sodium ratio, as was done in Finland. This led to a 60% decrease in premature death due to cardiac disease and stroke in its first two years and lowered diastolic blood pressure 10 points on average.
Our ancestors mostly got there salts from high in potassium foods. The New England Journal of Medicine has reported that our paleolithic ancestors took in about 11,000 mg of potassium and 700 mg of sodium per day. Modern western diet has shifted to 2,500 mg potassium and 4,000 mg of sodium, with significant health effects.
twiffer
@wrb: ah, so since it won’t really affect you, it’s fine to fuck everyone else over? thanks for that.
the wording on this is ignorantly broad. salt is a crucial and necessary ingredient in many foods, including nearly every baked good. if this was law it would shutter every bakery and most restaurants.
introducing legislation based on ignorance, anecdote and your dad’s health issues is egregiously stupid. frankly, it should be grounds for impeachment, cause it certainly indicates an unfitness for office.
Peter VE
Perhaps this idiot could be introduced the root of his salary. The “salarium” was (probably) the allowance paid the Roman legions for the purchase of salt.
Ron Hoggan
Could BillCinSD provide a little more information about the NEJM report on paleolithic ancestors? I’d like to read that report. thanks in advance,
Ron