The average American consumes a significant excess of sodium daily, and the FDA is looking to combat this trend by encouraging sodium reduction in food items.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has proposed new voluntary guidelines aimed at reducing the salt content in a variety of food items.

According to a report from NACS, the new guidelines would limit the amount of salt in everything from packaged and prepared food to restaurant meals. These newly proposed guidelines are being used in an attempt to lower the amount of sodium that the average American consumes on a daily basis. Currently, the FDA has reported that the average amount of sodium an individual in the U.S. consumes is approximately 3,400 milligrams a day. The goal of the new voluntary guidelines is to gradually reduce consumption to 2,300 milligrams per day.

These new guidelines complement the efforts that many food manufacturers, restaurant and foodservice operators that are already making an effort to reduce the amount of sodium that is used in their food. According to NACS, the FDA is focusing on encouraging food manufacturers whose products make up a significant portion of national sales to adopt the new guidelines.

NACS reported that The Wall Street Journal pointed out that these guidelines come as a part of the broader healthy-eating initiatives that are underway. Additionally, NACS has revealed that, so far, 27 food manufacturers, restaurants and grocers have already committed to making voluntary changes to reduce sodium levels in their products.