Who'se salt is it?

I'm starting to feel as though I've become a little negligent with my blogging this month, but I must admit the thought of sitting at my computer any longer than I have to makes me cringe. I've always had very active summer jobs, and although I am loving the experience I am getting this summer working at the Canadian Celiac Association I must admit I am not loving the sitting at a desk all day part. Anyway, the weather is less than desirable today (actually its about to rain for what feels like the millionth day in a row) so I am back at the computer and ready to blog about a couple of interesting sodium headlines I noticed last week!....

Initially, I stumbled across this one published on the CBC News website. The article raises concern over a recent study that noted varying levels of the same product sold in multiple countries. Over 260 products from well-known manufacturers (ex/ McDonald's, KFC etc.) were analyzed and not one was found to have a consistent sodium content from 1 country to the next! The biggest blow? Salt content was found to be highest in many Canadian foods than other international equivalents. An example given in the CBC article is All Bran cereal which contains 2.15 g of sodium in Canada versus only 0.65 g of sodium in an equal sample size available in the US. - You may recall my previous blog post about sodium & cereal from earlier this year

Here I wish to point out something that may seem obvious, but one shouldn't forget it - Canada is not the same as the US....or any other country for that matter! Health Canada provides the framework under which the Food and Drug Act & Regulations for this country are held. And it is here were decisions are made as to what is allowed to be used as ingredients in products, as well as what various processing procedures must be followed. So, in order to eligible for sale in this country Canadian All Bran has met those standards. And yes, our All Bran does contain more sodium than the version sold in the US! But that doesn't mean that the US as a whole is nutritionally better than we are: I've seen some portion sizes for example, while I've visiting the south that are out of this world!

Moral of the story? Its good to take a look at what's happening with nutrition issues in other parts of the world, but at the end of the day you can't compare apples and oranges. And you also have to remember that shifting priorities play a large role. Following the push to reduce trans fats in food products, perhaps emphasis on sodium has taken temporary back burner at the level of government - but it will come back, I'm sure of it. And in the mean time as consumers, we have to do our part to make informed choices from the plethora of information available to us. Which brings me to the next article I found...

Interestingly, on Thursday I came across another sodium article that seemed to fit right in here. The article presents to us an interesting law suit happening in the U.S. It was there in New Jersey, where a consumer activist group has sued Denny's Corp because of the "dangerously high" levels of sodium in food items on their menu. The lawsuit is launched months after the advocacy group said it held private negotiations with Denny's over their high sodium menu earlier this year. Following talks, Denny's did cut sodium in a few items but did not reduce it throughout the menu as the Center for Science in the Public Interest had urged.

This article serves as an interesting example of how the sodium content of menu items differs from country to country. The example from the National Post article of a "grotesquely high sodium" menu item available at Denny's is the Meat Lover's Scramble (2 eggs scrambled with chopped bacon, diced ham, crumbled sausage, and cheese plus 2 bacon strips, 2 sausage links, hash browns AND 2 pancakes) which clocks in at 5690 mg of sodium. I looked up the same menu item on the Canadian Denny's website and found it only contains 3180 mg of sodium (still well over the recommended daily max). But, we aren't the bad guy when it comes to salt this time - nor are we always the bad guy as the previous article suggested!

And while I completely agree that the sodium content of menu items offered at Denny's (and many other restaurants for that matter) is through the roof, I don't particularly believe in suing companies. Denny's doesn't hide the sodium content of their menu items, its actually quite easy to find on the company's website. If people don't want to eat high sodium menu items, they have the ability to choose not to or to choose to do so less often. I believe that choosing what we eat is not only our right but also our responsibility! Otherwise shouldn't we also be suing the manufacturers of soya sauce or salt & vinegar chips for negligence?

One last thing before I wrap this one up, while I was navigating the Denny's US website I came across a new menu item which made me cringe. The Grand Slam Burrito - which is basically a Grand Slam Breakfast (egg, bacon, sausage and pancake) covered in syrup, melted cheese and then hand wrapped in a tortilla to be grilled and served with hash browns. IcK!...and I'm guessing its not low in sodium either!