Headlines & features

A combination of declining winter severity after the New Year's 2009 combined with frantic salt purchasing and massive increases in road salt production and imports averted a salt shortage in 2008-2009, Herd Reporter summarized from an interview with Salt Institute president Richard L. Hanneman.

Results of the 4th annual Manufacturing and Wholesale Distribution National Survey have been released. The survey, sponsored by RSM McGladrey, found that business conditions have deteriorated, accelerating the downward trend noted in the 2007 and 2008 surveys. Only 9% of the surveyed companies reported their business as “thriving and growing" while 40% reported their business as “declining.” Respondents were upbeat, however, with 46% predicting a rebound in 2009 (but, then again, 44% thought they'd hit bottom last year and only 9% agreed a year later).

Market research firm Mintel has found that 8 in 10 Americans take the healthfulness of restaurant foods into consideration, but they make choices on taste, texture and experience" according to an article in Advertising Age . And don't forget price: consumers feel that choosing a "healthy" diet is an invitation to spend more for restaurant meals; "As cash-strapped consumers tighten their belts, they're choosing cheap and tasty comfort food."

Ohio counties and cities report having no difficulty obtaining required salt supplies this year at acceptable prices, reports Carrie Whitaker of the Cincinnati Enquirer . Whitaker wrote several stories last year about the travails of Hamilton County and the area around Cincinnati.

Snow magazine tells readers that "Leading researchers and key winter maintenance policymakers gathered at the University of Waterloo (Ontario) in late May for a symposium ' Assessing the Efficacy of Current Voluntary Road Salt Management Programs and Practices (html 52.21 kB) .'

Salt is an essential nutrient in the body and an essential ingredient in bread. This article in BakingBusiness.com features an interview with Morton Salt's Linda Kragt.

The editor of Snow Magazine provides his perspective, his "State of the Industry" report on private contract snowfighting in the magazine's May issue. Included in the several themed articles is one on salt, "A hot commodity."

Although proven technologically a half century ago, the use of molten salt to generate electricity has never before been commercialized. That may be changed soon as the dormant facility just off I-15 near Barstow, CA is reactivated and expanded to provide energy for 100,000 homes, the Los Angeles Times reports.

In seven years as health commissioner in New York City, Thomas Frieden compiled a "questionable" record with no worthwhile achievements, but distinguished by a paternalistic "old guard of public health" approach, writes Dr. David Gratzer in City Journal , a publication of the Manhattan Institute. Gratzer calls Frieden "Dr. Meddlesome" and explains:

The Bakers Federation registered its concern with the latest round of salt-reduction targets released last week by the UK's Food Standards Agency, saying further reductions in salt present "massive challenges." The group had endorsed earlier targets.