Waterford native helped reduce salt on NYC menus

Attorney had role in rule that requires warnings by chains

Next time you visit New York City and dine in a chain restaurant, you can thank Waterford native Thomas Merrill for his role in helping you pick out the healthy menu choices.

Merrill, 54, is general counsel for the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, which on Wednesday won a state Supreme Court challenge to its new rule requiring chain restaurants to include warnings on menu items with high salt content, along with notices next to where orders are placed about the health risks of high salt consumption.

The rule, which takes effect March 1, requires restaurants with 15 or more outlets to post salt shaker icons next to items with 2,300 milligrams or more of salt — the total recommended daily limit. It is the first of its kind in the country.

Restaurants face fines of $200 for each instance of noncompliance.

“Some restaurants are reformulating their menu items already, which is what we hoped would happen,” Merrill said in a phone interview Thursday, citing three items on Panera Bread's menu and a Burger King breakfast sandwich that now have less salt. “We're hoping that with this additional information, this will cause people to start looking at all the salt in their diets.”

Merrill said about 10 percent of restaurant items contain more salt than health ex- perts say should be consumed in an entire day.

“You have some restaurants by the Crystal Mall that have these items,” said Merrill, who spends summers at a house in Westbrook, and is the son of Ralph Merrill, former priest of St. James Episcopal Church in New London. “People are surprised.”

Natalie Smith, registered dietitian at the Lawrence + Memorial Cancer Center in Waterford, believes the labels are a good idea.

“People should understand what's in their food,” she said.

She noted that more than half of U.S. adults have hyper- tension and pre-hypertension, conditions tied to excessive salt consumption, so reducing salt in people's diets is an important public health goal.

“The first step for people to improving their health is to give them information,” she said.

When ordering out in Connecticut and elsewhere where the labels aren't required, Smith advised staying away from menu items laden with cheeses, gravies and sauces that tend to have excessive amounts of salt.

“Look for foods that are prepared simply,” she said.

High sodium intake is linked to hypertension, heart disease and stroke, among other conditions. Among groups that supported the city's new labeling requirement, Merrill said, were the American Heart Association. According to the city health department, the average New York adult consumes 40 percent more salt daily than the recommended daily limit.

The new labeling requirement, he said, is the latest of a series of initiatives by the city health department to reduce chronic disease rates among New Yorkers related to poor diets, such as the one requir- ing calorie labeling. He has been involved in many of these efforts in the 10 years he's held his current job.

And while New York City is the first in the country to require the sodium labels, Merrill expects it won't be the last — that's what happened with the calorie labeling requirement, which was ultimately adopted by other cities, including Philadelphia and San Francisco.

After health department officials decided to advance the sodium labeling initiative, Merrill began developing the language for the new rule, and working on the associated legal issues. When the new rule, passed unanimously by the city's Board of Health on Sept. 9, met the legal challenge from the National Restaurant Association, Merrill began working on the city's defense, and argued the case in court.

He said it will apply to about 3,000 of the city's 24,000 restaurants. What's next on his agenda? “Doing away with smokeless tobacco in ball parks,” he said. “The Mets and the Yankees are in favor.”