An industry group sued the city Thursday challenging the new rule that requires chain restaurants to post warnings on foods loaded with salt.
The National Restaurant Association says that only the City Council, not the un-elected Board of Health, has the power to impose the sodium regulation.
“In this latest example of renegade regulating, the Board of Health overstepped its authority with an arbitrary and capricious mandate,” said National restaurant Association attorney Angelo Amador.
A city Law Department spokesman responded, “We are confident that the Board of Health has the authority to enact this rule.”
The rule went into effect on Tuesday, but it won’t be enforced until March.
Eateries with 15 or more locations nationwide have until then to revamp their menus to include small salt-shaker emblems next to items with more than 2,300 mg of sodium, the recommended daily limit.
Violators who don’t post the warning will face $200 fines.
The average American consumes about 3,400 mg of salt per day, and public health advocates have cheered the measure as a smart step to make diners aware of how much sodium they’re ordering.
Too much sodium in the diet has been linked to heart disease.
But the million-member restaurant group compares the salt rule to former Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s proposed soda ban that was shot down by a judge in 2013.
“The board’s actions, as with the Beverage Ban before it, are arbitrary in their scope, reach and application,” said Amador.