Today, the FDA took another important step in its sodium reduction efforts. The agency has issued new, voluntary targets for sodium reduction in foods in a draft guidance that serves as Phase II of the agency’s ongoing work. The new targets build on the final, voluntary sodium reduction goals issued in 2021, now referred to as Phase I, to further reduce diet-related diseases associated with consuming high levels of sodium. The draft guidance, “Voluntary Sodium Reduction Goals: Target Mean and Upper Bound Concentrations for Sodium in Commercially Processed, Packaged, and Prepared Foods (Edition 2)” contains three-year sodium reduction targets for 163 food categories that are commercially processed and packaged, or prepared in food service establishments such as restaurants. Industry has been working to meet the 2021, or Phase I, targets by April 2024. The Phase II targets would provide new goals for industry to work toward by three years after the guidance is finalized. The targets are intended to help address the excess intake of sodium in the U.S.—which is currently almost 50 percent more on average than the recommended limit. .....