Sanitary and phytosanitary measures are applied to protect human or animal life from risks arising from additives, contaminants, toxins or pathogenic organisms in their food. The World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) restricts the use of unjustified measures for the purpose of trade protection.

The aim of the SPS Agreement is to ensure that regulatory measures are not misused for protectionist purposes and do not result in unnecessary barriers to international trade. In particular, measures to protect health must be based on the analysis and assessment of objective and accurate scientific data. Standards are developed by leading scientists in the field and governmental experts on health protection and are subject to international scrutiny and review.

If national requirement results in a greater restriction of trade, a country may be asked to provide scientific justification. The Agreement checks unjustified discrimination in the use of sanitary and phytosanitary measures, particularly if they are in favour of domestic products. In a trade dispute regarding a sanitary or phytosanitary measure, the normal WTO dispute settlement procedures are used, and advice from appropriate scientific experts can be sought.

If regulations are set arbitrarily, they could be used as an excuse for protectionism. The Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade tries to ensure that regulations, standards, testing and certification procedures do not create unnecessary obstacles and are based upon sound scientific information. Because a large portion of dietary sodium enters the food supply through processed foods, sodium reduction programs in the UK and Canada are directed at reducing the salt content of these products. While most consumers and policy-makers perceive processed foods to be convenience foods made by large scale manufacturers, a great many well-known traditional foods customarily considered to be high quality, healthy products are also processed and contribute significantly to the dietary sodium we consume. Examples of such foods can be found in the range of epicurean foods imported from Italy, for example. Hard cheeses such as Parmesan and Pecorino ; semisoft Sardos and softer blue cheeses such as Gorgonzola ; olives, anchovies and capers; Parma ham, smoked prosciutto and Italian dry-cured salamis and sausages and Baccalà (salted cod) all have been traditionally produced for centuries. They are all known internationally and are produced to exacting standards of identity.

These traditional Italian foods have a high salt content that has characterized their quality and international acceptance. In a personal comment a senior US FDA staff member once made to me, he indicated that for close to a century, all imported ham from around the world had been analyzed for Trichinella spiralis infection and Parma ham was the only product where this infection was never detected. He attributed this fact to the salt levels used in traditional Parma ham production. For more than 350 years, Parmesano Reggiano, considered to be the King of Cheeses , has been artisanally made by small manufacturers in the Parma region. They are so tied to tradition that they still measure the products temperature by the Réaumur scale - a temperature scale developed during the Renaissance period that stopped being popular elsewhere by the end of the 18th century. To cure their fresh cheese, they immerse the huge rounds in saturated sea salt baths (some of which have been in continual operation for more than 100 years - you can see beautiful 4-5 inch wide salt crystals sitting on the bottom of these crystal clear baths). The only changes these manufacturers have made in the process during the 20th century was to convert to sophisticated digital temperature controls (still using the Réaumur scale) and to use more expensive recrystallized sea salt to improve the products’ flavor.

Although these specialties are staples in the Italian diet and are high in salt, the Italian population continues to have amongst the very best cardiovascular statistics in the world. In fact, the per capita consumption of salt in Italy and other Mediterranean countries is considerably higher than in North America or the Northern Europe, yet their cardiovascular performance is far superior.

If, in the course of executing a sodium reduction program, such as we currently see in Canada and the UK, restrictions are placed upon the salt contents of classes of foods, many of which may have long-established standards of identity, such an action may be perceived by exporting countries as an artificial technical trade barrier and institute a dispute settlement procedure at the WTO. For example, an exporting country, such as Italy, may well claim that it was never conclusively demonstrated that, for the majority of the population, salt reduction has any significant health benefits. In such an argument, Italy can point to its own excellent cardiovascular performance as proof that higher salt consumption does not have any negative impacts on health.

Such a dispute would likely be adjudicated by FAO (Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations) an institution that routinely relies on risk assessment criteria drawn from the broadest base of scientific information. This review would not be restricted to the impact of salt on blood pressure alone, but would extend far beyond to cover other health biomarkers and risk factors as well. In carrying out this review, the FAO convenes a panel of experts that are chosen for their objectivity and expertise in making evaluations based on the preponderance and quality of scientific evidence.

During an open session of the Canadian Multi-stakeholder Working Group on Sodium Reduction held in Ottawa on February 19, I described every aspect of the salt and health debate that such a working group would analyze. It was clear to the assembled audience, that if a thorough and objective analysis were carried out on all the data available that the panel of experts would overwhelmingly conclude that salt reduction in the food supply will be a strategy destined to failure and, worse, that it may hold the potential for unintended consequences that may cause harm to a significant portion of the population. We have seen this all before when consumer advocates and the medical establishment put the fear of fat into the minds of the public. In short order, the market was swamped with every form of no fat and low fat foods imaginable a phenomenon considered by many to have ushered in the current epidemic of obesity.