Salt our next enemy?

The little crystal mineral that has literally changed the course of human history has a new foe in the form of the FDA. It should surprise no one that the FDA needs an enemy. Our our culture thrives on having an enemy at all times — whether that is the likes of ISIS today or cold war Russia, the mindset is similar. The politics of food also thrives on having an enemy and there have been many over the years. For a while it was fast food, then soda pop (or just ‘pop’ here in Minnesota), later transfats, and real recently sugar, today it looks like our attention has shifted to a new enemy — salt.

As a consumer I don’t mind the focus — too much salt is present in America’s processed food. Too much salt is in our restaurant food. And like trans fats and sugar, the food industry looked at where it could make money, not at what was best for the consumers’ health. Sugar is not a bad ingredient, nor is salt. It is how those ingredients are abused both by the food industry and the consumer that is troublesome. As a society we overindulge. But focusing on that is not sexy. So let’s just villainize salt. Hmmm.