The federal government asked food companies to take salt out of packaged food. New research suggests that when companies designed new products, most of them did not.
An analysis presented this week at the American Society for Nutrition's annual meeting compared the sodium content of packaged foods introduced in the United States between 2015 and 2025, six years before and four years after the FDA issued voluntary Phase I sodium targets in 2021. Across nine food categories that together account for most dietary sodium in American diets, researchers found no difference in sodium content between products launched before the guidance and products launched after it. In four categories, the sodium content of newer products was higher.
Those four are dry soups, popcorn, bread and bread products, and corn-based snacks. The full set of categories examined also included pizzas, sandwiches and wraps, meat products, potato snacks and wet soups.
The finding matters to households because roughly 70 percent of the sodium Americans eat is added during manufacturing and commercial food preparation, not at the kitchen table. A shopper who wants to eat less salt is largely limited to choosing among products whose sodium content someone else decided.
What the Researchers Found and What They Did Not
The study drew on the Mintel Global New Product Database, which catalogues packaged foods newly introduced to supermarkets and major retail channels, including products with reformulated recipes or new packaging. Researchers compared the sodium figures printed on Nutrition Facts labels.
Kenny Kusnadi, a graduate student researcher in the Department of International Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the study's first author, said the pattern points at product development rather than at consumers. The findings suggest, he said, that "the food industry is not incorporating the sodium targets into new product development."
Senior author Matti Marklund, an assistant professor in the same department, framed the result as evidence about policy design rather than about salt itself, arguing that non-binding targets are a weaker instrument than mandatory ones with financial consequences for non-compliance.
The limitations are substantial, and the researchers state them. The database covers newly introduced and reformulated products, not everything already sitting on shelves, so it measures what companies are choosing to launch rather than the total composition of the food supply. It also does not measure what any individual actually eats. A food supply could in principle grow saltier at the point of new product launches while population sodium intake stayed flat or fell, if shoppers shifted toward lower-sodium options.
Most importantly, this is a conference abstract. It was reviewed and selected by a committee of experts, but it has not been through the peer review required for publication in a scientific journal. The findings should be treated as preliminary.
The Agency's Own Data Tell a More Mixed Story
The FDA has published a different-looking figure. In its preliminary assessment of progress, the agency reported that 2022 data showed about 40 percent of the targets set in the 2021 guidance, including restaurant categories, had already been reached or were within 10 percent of being reached.
That is not necessarily a contradiction. The FDA measured progress against category-level targets across the food supply. The new analysis measured whether newly launched products were getting less salty over time. A category can sit close to its target because it was already close in 2010, when the baseline data were drawn, while new entrants in that category show no improvement.
The FDA's own position on why this matters has not changed. Reducing sodium intake, the agency says, "has the potential to prevent hundreds of thousands of premature deaths and illnesses" in the years ahead. Average sodium intake in the United States is about 3,400 milligrams a day, roughly 50 percent above the 2,300 milligram limit for people aged 14 and older.
Why the Timing Puts Pressure on the FDA
The sequence here is the part worth watching. The FDA issued Phase I targets in October 2021 with a two and a half year horizon, meaning April 2024. In August 2024, the agency issued draft Phase II targets covering 163 food categories, aimed at bringing average intake to about 2,750 milligrams a day, roughly 20 percent below pre-Phase I levels.
Those Phase II targets were proposed before the agency had published a full evaluation of whether Phase I worked. A formal evaluation of the Phase I targets is expected later this year. Public health groups that filed comments on the draft guidance pressed the agency to make its monitoring of both phases timely and transparent, and asked for more ambitious Phase II numbers.
The new analysis does not settle whether Phase I worked. It does add a specific, testable observation that the agency's evaluation will now have to address: new products in the categories that contribute the most sodium did not get less salty.
What This Means for Shopping and Blood Pressure
For most readers, the practical picture is unchanged, which is itself the point. If the composition of new packaged foods is not improving, then the burden of reducing sodium stays with individuals and their kitchens.
Excess sodium raises blood pressure, and high blood pressure is a leading risk factor for stroke, heart attack and heart failure. The households with the most at stake are those where someone already has hypertension, chronic kidney disease, heart failure or diabetes, and older adults, who are more likely to be salt sensitive.
Reading the Nutrition Facts label remains the most reliable tool, and the sodium figure is more useful than front-of-pack claims. Cooking at home and relying less on prepared and packaged items reduces intake more than any single product swap. People on a sodium-restricted diet for a medical reason should follow the target their clinician set rather than a general population number, and no one should change a prescribed diet or medication based on a conference abstract.
What Happens Next
The FDA's formal evaluation of the Phase I targets is the next milestone, expected before the end of the year. The Phase II targets remain in draft form and have not been finalized. Whether the agency responds to evidence of weak industry uptake by strengthening the targets, adding monitoring requirements, or moving toward a mandatory framework is an open regulatory question with no announced answer.
The research team's own next step is peer-reviewed publication, which would allow independent scrutiny of the category definitions and statistical methods. Until then, the honest description is that an early analysis found no improvement where improvement was requested, and that the agency's own accounting of Phase I has not yet arrived.
Frequently Asked Questions
What did the study find? Across nine major sodium-contributing categories, packaged foods introduced after the FDA's 2021 voluntary targets contained no less sodium than those introduced before, and four categories showed higher sodium.
Has this been peer reviewed? No. It is a conference abstract presented at NUTRITION 2026. It was selected by an expert committee but has not completed journal peer review.
Are the FDA targets mandatory? No. Phase I targets issued in 2021 and draft Phase II targets issued in 2024 are voluntary guidance for manufacturers, restaurants and foodservice operators.
Does this mean sodium reduction efforts failed? Not necessarily. The FDA reported that about 40 percent of Phase I targets had been reached or nearly reached by 2022. The agency's full evaluation is still pending.
How much sodium should I eat? The Dietary Guidelines recommend less than 2,300 milligrams a day for people 14 and older. Average U.S. intake is about 3,400 milligrams.
Who is most affected by high sodium? People with high blood pressure, heart failure, chronic kidney disease or diabetes, and older adults, who are more likely to be salt sensitive.
What can I do at the store? Compare the sodium line on Nutrition Facts labels within a category, since amounts vary widely between similar products, and cook more meals from unprocessed ingredients.
