Monitoring sodium in commercial packaged and restaurant foods

Abstract

As part of a collaborative initiative between USDA, CDC and FDA to monitor sodium in the US food supply, a systemic program to monitor commercial packaged and restaurant foods with added sodium is underway at Agricultural Research Service (ARS). It includes nationwide sampling and analyses of about 125 Sentinel Foods, identified by ARS scientists as primary indicators to assess changes in the food supply. An additional ~1200 foods that support the processing of dietary data in the national survey, What We Eat In America (WWEIA), NHANES are being monitored through review of the Nutrition Facts Panel. As of FY 2012, about 75% of the Sentinel Foods have been sampled and analyzed. Preliminary review of the data shows mixed trends in mean sodium content. For example, there were no significant changes for taco shells and fast food cheese and pepperoni pizzas, whereas thin crust cheese pizza increased by 10.7% (p=0.014). Reductions of 20–25% were seen in ketchup (p<0.005) and canned pasta with sauce (p=0.038). These updated data are publicly available for use by researchers and epidemiologists and released annually in the USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference (SR) and biennially in the Food and Nutrient Database for Dietary Studies (FNDDS) for use in the WWEIA, NHANES.