Despite the efforts of health authorities to moderate salt intake, the mention of salt on restaurant menus has increased 144 percent in the last five years, according to new research from Technomic.
The consultancy noted that salt has remained popular in restaurant kitchens in part because it’s a low-cost but effective means of adding flavor to foods. It also noted an increase in the use of so-called artisan salts, like the sea salt now used on Wendy’s French fries, or the black lava salt used by some Japanese restaurants.
Technomic noted that the increase in mentions doesn’t equate to a rise in the amount of salt that restaurants are using. Rather, it suggested, restaurants are calling attention to it more often when they do use the flavoring.
The data was based on Technomic’s ongoing analysis of menus from 2,000 chain concepts and independent restaurants, a service called MenuMonitor.
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