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Bill To Ban All Salt In Restaurant Cooking
lord_rotorooter writes "Felix Ortiz, D-Brooklyn, introduced a bill that would ruin restaurant food and baked goods as we know them. The measure (if passed) would ban the use of all forms of salt in the preparation and cooking of food for all restaurants or bakeries. While the use of too much salt can contribute to health problems, the complete banning of salt would have negative impacts on food chemistry. Not only does salt enhance flavor, it controls bacteria, slows yeast activity and strengthens dough by tightening gluten. Salt also inhibits the growth of microbes that spoil cheese."
Some politicians are idiots! More at 11.
Because what was bad for his father is obviously bad for everyone. Though I'm sure some people won't mind this bill, particularly the ones who require extremely low sodium diets to cope with various medical conditions.
* Q
P.S. If you don't get this note, let me know and I'll write you another.
Trans fats have been removed from your favorite foods for a few years now. Can you honestly say you can tell?
Really... so sodium chloride plus 2% random crap out of the ocean is inherently better for you than sodium chloride + 2% safe non-clumping agent and iodine? Because that's pretty much what you're comparing. They're 98% the exact same chemical.
Don't take my word for it, ask the May clinic:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/sea-salt/AN01142
But hell, enjoy your goiters.
Actually, no, this propsal included forcing horrible bread. When questioned, the idiaot admitted he had done no research into the importance of salt in food chemistry. His reasoning was precisely as follows:
My father ate a lot of salt.
My father died of a heart atttack.
Therefore, no one should ever eat salt.
Yes, folks, this is what passes for reason in a politician.
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
Everyone should dress up like Gandhi and march down to the bay to make salt.
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
Which, if you actually read the bill is an outright lie by Ortiz:
http://assembly.state.ny.us/leg/?default_fld=&bn=+A10129%09%09&Summary=Y&Memo=Y&Text=Y
3 S 399-BBB. PROHIBITION ON SALT; RESTAURANTS. 1. NO OWNER OR OPERATOR
4 OF A RESTAURANT IN THIS STATE SHALL USE SALT IN ANY FORM IN THE PREPARA-
5 TION OF ANY FOOD FOR CONSUMPTION BY CUSTOMERS OF SUCH RESTAURANT,
6 INCLUDING FOOD PREPARED TO BE CONSUMED ON THE PREMISES OF SUCH RESTAU-
7 RANT OR OFF OF SUCH PREMISES.
Fail troll is fail.
You're obviously not a chef, or a Pastry Chef.
You should buy fresh chicken, and not Swanson chicken. Very little chicken is injected with brine. Frozen chicken you get in the big packs is inject with brine, but you can look on the label and you'll see that the ingredients list includes salt and water. They do have to label that stuff.
Restaurants don't sneak in salt without telling you. Most good restaurants take away tablesalt.. because they want you to experience the right amount of salt.
If you need a low salt diet, you tell your server and they can tell the chefs to hold the salt on many things. But removing salt from bread is /stupid/ Salt builds flavor and brings out the flavor while cooking. Too much salt is disgusting, but no salt is equally bland. Learn to talk to your wait staff, if you're going to eat out so often that the salt from restaurants is going to be a major issue.
Just to humor yourself, the next time you go to a restaurant, ask for the nutritional menu. The recommended level of salt intake is 1000 to 1500mg (1g to 1.5g), though the USDA recommended amount is around 2400 or so.
I think you're confusing salt levels and sodium levels here (i.e. quoting sodium levels but labelling the figures as salt levels). This is a pretty important disctinction. To quote from this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt#Recommended_intake
"In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration itself does not make a recommendation,[64] but refers readers to Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2005. These suggest that US citizens should consume less than 2,300 mg of sodium (= 2.3 g sodium = 5.8 g salt) per day.[65]"
(emphasis added)