New York Judge delayed the implementation of the city's salt law, which requires food chain restaurants to indicate a warning beside menu items that are high in salt.

Clash Of Courts

As a response, the National Restaurant Association appealed against the proposed rule.

"The Health Department is disappointed that the National Restaurant Association would want to prevent New Yorkers from receiving this important health warning," the department of health statement reads.

On Wednesday, Feb 24, Justice Eileen Rakower of Manhattan Supreme Court turned down the request of the group to challenge the proposed rule. 

On Monday, however, the group had the last laugh as a judge in the first department of the Appellate Division granted the temporary stoppage of the rule's enforcement.

"We are gratified that the appellate court recognized the seriousness of the issues that we've raised on appeal," says the association lawyer S. Preston Ricardo.

The One-Of-A-Kind Rule

The new rule is said to be the first of its kind in the U.S. Under these regulations, restaurants that have 15 or more branches in the entire country need to put an illustration of a salt shaker inside a black triangle beside menu items that contain over 2,300 milligrams of salt.

As per the federal government, 2,300 milligrams is the limit of salt intake per individual every day.

National Restaurant Association has so much words to describe the salt rule - unlawful, arbitrary, unprecedented and capricious.

The group, which represents over 500,000 business, adds that the rule is full of illogical exceptions and nonsense loopholes. With this, it is looking forward to present the case before the appellate court.

If the rule was pushed through, violators would have been stashing $200 in fines by now as the supposed effectivity date of the salt law was Mar. 1.

Eventual Enforcement

Despite the delay of enforcement, New York City authorities still believe that the rule will be implemented in the end.

The Department of Health says it is confident that the court will eventually side with the salt law, which is a vital effort to prevent heart disease and stroke. The agency will still continue to warn violators, but will not issue sanctions.

Years before, New York City also prohibited trans fats in restaurant chains and ordered businesses to identify the number of calories that each food item on the menu has.