Takeout is getting healthier in Pa.
Over 200 Philadelphia restaurants will participate in the "Healthy Chinese Takeout Initiative," which aims to reduce added salt in restaurant food by 10 to 15 percent, the Gazette reported.
Many cities require restaurants to post calorie counts, and some have even banned trans-fats.
The Philadelphia Chinese eateries have been trying to flavor their dishes with more spices, such as chilli and garlic. They have also tried to reduce soy sauce use and have made packets of the salty condiment less available, Bloomberg BusinessWeek reported.
About 37 percent of Philadelphia residents have high blood pressure, and 47 percent of the city's African Americans suffer from it. The city is working to lower these numbers, the Gazette reported.
Chinese restaurants are "an enormous industry" in Philly, especially for residents of lower-income neighborhoods since the food is relatively cheap.
The recommended daily sodium intake is less than 2,300 milligrams a day, this is equivalent to about half a teaspoon. One order of chicken lo mein from a takeout restaurant averages at about 3,200 milligrams of salt.
After a low-sodium cooking class last summer taught restaurant owners how to make their food taste similar while using less sodium, the levels of salt in the average chicken lo mein dish went down by 20 percent in 20 restaurants.
"Change is always not an easy process, and there was some reluctance in the beginning when we started this project," Grace Ma, director of Temple University's Center for Asian Health, said.
Steven Zhu, president of the Greater Philadelphia Chinese Restaurant Association got restaurant owners to participate in the initiative by claiming healthier food would attract more customers. Others declined in fear of losing business.
Excessive sodium intake can lead to high blood pressure, which can in turn cause cardiac problems and stroke, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. More than 800,000 Americans die each year from these afflictions.
