Pass the Salt: Denny’s Menu Contains Unsafe Sodium Levels, New Lawsuit Alleges

A leading non-profit consumer rights and health advocacy group is suing the Denny’s restaurant chain for cooking up breakfast entrees, sandwiches, and other dishes the group says contain so much salt that they are dangerous.

In a class-action suit filed this week on behalf of a New Jersey resident, the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Science in the Public Interest accuses Denny’s of offering menu items that include up to about five times the recommended daily allowance of sodium.

The suit seeks to force Denny’s to list on the menu how much sodium is in each of its meals and to include prominent warnings in menus about the health risks of consuming too much salt.

Plaintiff ‘Astonished’ at Salt Content

Nick DeBenedetto, 48, of Tinton Falls, N.J. is the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit. He said he has frequented Denny’s restaurants for many years and has been diagnosed with high blood pressure, even though he does not cook with salt or include it in food he prepares at home. He blames eating meals at Denny’s he didn’t know were so high in sodium for causing his condition.

“I was astonished to find that these simple sandwiches have more salt than someone in my condition should have in a whole day,” DeBenedetto said in a statement, according to a Reuters news report.

Way Over the Limit

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, people should consume no more than 1,500 milligrams of sodium per day or else face increased risks of developing high blood pressure, a leading killer of Americans, and other potentially deadly health complications.

However, most of the meals on the menu at Denny’s contain more sodium than that and some of the top belly busters top out at or above 4,000 or 5,000 mg.

For example, Denny’s Meat Lover’s Scramble for breakfast combines two eggs along with bacon, ham, sausage, cheddar cheese, and is served with bacon strips, sausage patties, hash browns, and two pancakes on the side. The meal contains 5,690 mg of sodium, the health advocacy group said (and I feel like I just gained 5 pounds just by typing the ingredients).

We’ll be tracking this suit as it waddles, huffs, and puffs its way through the courts. Will it result in big changes in Denny’s menu and give diners more control over how much sodium they consume? We’ll let you know.

No related posts.