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Different companies use different processing methods, many of them established before salt was thought to be potentially dangerous. Amazing differences from brand to brand of the same kind of product often result. A 6-oz. can of Del Monte tomato paste has a mere 112 mg of sodium; Hunt's has 610. A Kellogg blueberry waffle has 260 mg, while the same size serving of Aunt Jemima hits 352 mg. Canned fruit is salty when it is peeled with lye. Because peas are sorted in brine for canning, a tablespoonful of canned peas has as much sodium (30.8 mg) as 5½ lbs. of fresh.
Hayes has already outlined Government goals in a major antisodium crusade. Complying with President Reagan's policy against excess Government regulation, he has chosen a "voluntary" approach. Though he has made progress by mixing persuasion and pressure, he threatens "to do something mandatory" if food makers do not cooperate. Hayes' object is to convince businesses that they must 1) label for sodium content, 2) change cooking directions so that adding salt is optional, 3) reduce the amount of sodium in processed foods and 4) offer many more low-sodium or salt-free products. He plans to follow up with a consumer-education program to ensure that labels are understood. Hayes already points to some victories. When the FDA first announced the crusade last April, only 13% of FDA-regulated food was labeled for sodium. Hayes expects that one-third to one-half will be by year's end. General Foods has already sodium-labeled its Shake 'n Bake, Post cereals and Birds Eye frozen vegetables; General Mills has tagged 200 products from Bisquick to Hamburger Helper. Mighty Campbell's, king of soups, has just introduced a new line of low-sodium flavors nationally. Among the green-and-yellow-bannered cans are variations on traditional chicken noodle, split pea and chunky vegetable beef.
Jewel Food Stores, a Midwest chain, has brought out its own private-label brand of low-salt canned goods. So has Stop & Shop in New England. McDonald's, which annually sells the public 700 million lbs. of hamburger and 542 million bushels of fries, has completed a study on the sodium content of Chicken McNuggets, Big Macs and French fries. Customers who request it may now have the information in the form of a booklet with sample menus. Example: Big Mac, French fries and milk (1,240 mg).
Hayes' chief ally in the fight for labeling, Tennessee Congressman Albert Gore, is unimpressed by these achievements. Gore thinks the voluntary approach is "almost certainly doomed to failure." What is needed, he believes, is a bill to require labeling under law. Along with Iowa Representative Neal Smith, he has written legislation requiring that the sodium and potassium content be marked on all processed and canned foods governed by the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, if the total exceeds 35 mg. The bill is now before a House health subcommittee chaired by California's Henry Waxman. It has 79 co-sponsors in the House, but Gore is worried about its future. Says he: "Salt is the cheapest flavor enhancer. There is an enormous competitive advantage to loading food with salt and not telling people about it." Waxman is worried for the same reason: "We are having difficulty getting the votes to pass this legislation because of industry pressure."