(Bloomberg) -- A warning symbol for salty items at chainrestaurants will continue to pepper menus throughout New York Cityafter a state judge denied a trade group’s bid to block a rule thatrequires the label.

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The city became the first municipality to requirerestaurant chains to post high-sodium warnings, forcing eaterieswith 15 or more locations nationwide to place a triangularsalt-shaker icon beside items with at least 2,300 milligrams ofsodium.

Justice Eileen Rakower said during a hearing Wednesday inManhattan that the rule doesn’t prohibit restaurants from offeringhigh-sodium foods but merely provides information to consumersabout items that exceed the recommended daily salt limit.

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“Some people just love salty foods, and they’re going to goahead and eat those foods regardless of whether they have a salticon next to them,” Rakower said. “It’s not a ban. It’sinformation. It’s a warning.”

S. Preston Ricardo, an attorney for the National RestaurantAssociation, which challenged the rule, said the group plans toappeal.

Questioning authority

Ricardo told Rakower the issue isn’t whether high levels ofsodium lead to hypertension and heart disease but whether thecity’s Board of Health had the authority to enact the rule.

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Allowing the salt labels would enable the city to issue similarwarnings for other "lifestyle choices" that might have negativehealth effects, such as watching television for extended periods oftime or sitting too long while working, Ricardo said.

"It would basically open up the floodgates," Ricardo said. "Thesodium mandate is nothing like the board has ever done."

The Board of Health acted on its own with no guidance fromlegislators and makes decisions based on "political and economicaspirations," Ricardo said. The rule is more likely to confuseconsumers and push them toward restaurants that aren’t part of achain and whose menus don’t have a salt-shaker symbol, whichRicardo likened to a warning symbol for dangerous materials such aspoisons or biohazards.

"It’s way too overbroad and it advises people of things that maynot apply to them," he said.

Teaspoon’s worth

The threshold of 2,300 milligrams of sodium, about a teaspoon’sworth, is the recommended daily limit for adults in the U.S. Highsodium levels can lead to high blood pressure and increase the riskof heart attack and stroke, New York City’s Health Departmentsaid, citing U.S. dietary guidelines and the Institute of Medicinestudies. One in three New York City deaths is due to heart disease,the department said.

The Washington-based restaurant group, which represents morethan 500,000 businesses, sued the city two days after the mandatetook effect in December, saying the Board of Health had exceededits authority and opening yet another front in the industry’sbattle against increasing government regulation.

The requirement was crafted by Mayor Bill de Blasio’sadministration and continues the efforts of his predecessor,Michael Bloomberg, to improve public health through governmentmandates, such as banning trans fats, requiring calorie counts onmenus and limiting the size of sugary sodas.

Soda fight

While the trans-fat bans and calorie counts survived similarlegal challenges, the state’s highest court blocked thesoda measure. Bloomberg, the founderand majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of BloombergNews, had asked restaurants and food makers to voluntarily reducethe amount of salt in their menu items.

Mark Muschenheim, an attorney for the city, told Rakower thatconsumers frequently underestimate the amount of sodium in theirmeals because the levels can vary widely among individual menuitems. The rule doesn’t limit the amount of sodium in foods ordictate its sale, he said.

Several chains have already started posting the labels on theirmenus, said Thomas Merrill, another lawyer for the city.

"This tells me that when I go in, if I buy that item, I’m goingbe getting a whole day’s worth of sodium simply by buying thatParmesan sub," Merrill said. "This is a warning. It doesn’t dealwith personal autonomy."

Better decisions

After the ruling, de Blasio said on Twitter that too many NewYorkers are at risk of high blood pressure, heart disease, andstroke due to high sodium intake and that the icon will help themmake better decisions about their diets, which would lead to longerlives.

"If your meal has so much sodium that it merits a salt shaker onthe menu, then--for the sake of your health--order something else,"said the mayor, a Democrat.

The city won’t start fining chains that don’t comply with therequirement until next month. Violators could face as much as a$200 fine for each infraction.

The case is National Restaurant Association v. New York CityDepartment of Health, 654024/2015, New York State Supreme Court,New York County (Manhattan.)

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