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 A judge in the Appellate Division, First Department, granted an
interim stay of enforcement of the rule. Starting tomorrow,
violators would have been subject to $200 fines. Justice Eileen
Rakower of state Supreme Court in Manhattan last Wednesday shot down
a challenge to the rule by the National Restaurant Association,
paving the way for enforcement of the regulation.
The rule, believed to be the first of its kind in the United States,
requires city restaurants with 15 or more locations nationwide to
post a salt shaker encased in a black triangle as a warning next to
menu items with more than 2,300 milligrams of sodium, the daily
limit recommended by the federal government.
"We are gratified that the appellate court recognized the
seriousness of the issues that we've raised on appeal," said S.
Preston Ricardo, a lawyer for the restaurant association.
The group claims the rule is “arbitrary and capricious” and “filled
with irrational exclusions and nonsensical loopholes.” It said only
the City Council could impose such a regulation.
The city said it believes the rule will ultimately prevail. “We are
confident, despite the stay of enforcement for now, that the court
will uphold the sodium warning rule," the Department of Health said
in a statement. It will continue to warn chains if they are not
compliant, but not issue violations while the stay is in place.
A full panel of the court will decide, probably later this month,
whether to keep the fines at bay until it rules on an appeal,
Ricardo said.
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Rakower found the city's Board of Health within its rights to adopt
the rule, which took effect in December, to help lower blood
pressure and reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes.
Years ago, the city banned transfats in restaurants and required
chains to post calorie counts.
However, a proposed ban on selling sugary drinks larger than 16
ounces (0.5 liters) was struck down by the state's highest court in
2014.
Unlike the city's failed soda ban, Rakower said, the salt rule did
not restrict the use of sodium.
The city's Board of Health "did not act outside the bounds of its
authority in the area of public health by adopting a rule requiring
chain restaurants to post sodium warning labels," the judge said in
a written decision Friday.
(Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)
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