Evolution of strategies for measuring sodium reduction in a local restaurant setting

The average sodium intake of Americans has been on a steady rise since the 1970's. With an increased intake of processed foods, dining out more often, and less involvement in preparing healthy foods at home, Americans now consume more than double the recommended amount daily. Today more than 75% of our dietary sodium comes from packaged foods and restaurants and 75% of all restaurant eating experiences are either fast food or casual dining.

To address these issues, Schenectady County Public Health Services is working to reduce sodium in meals served at independently owned restaurants. This presentation discusses lessons learned during the process of developing and implementing an evaluation tool for the Schenectady County (NY) Sodium Reduction in Communities initiative, a CDC-funded grant focused on sodium reduction through population level policy and environmental changes.

While developing tools to evaluate sodium reduction, Schenectady County experienced several challenges with respect to the type of data that could be collected from restaurants. In response to these challenges, Schenectady County is using an innovative approach through the development and implementation of a restaurant toolkit that assesses and scores a restaurant's menu, cooking techniques, and products. The toolkit is designed to assist restaurants to strategize and create an action plan for reducing sodium on a continual basis. Follow-up assessments will document changes made. The toolkit thus has a multi-pronged focus – it will serve as a guide for the intervention, an educational tool, and as an assessment of short-term and long-term restaurant sodium reduction practices.