You have to hand it to the New York City's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

After raising awareness about trans fats, smoking and hidden calories, they are now taking aim at salt.

The good news is that the food police aren't too worried if you happen to have a heavy hand with the salt shaker at your own table. 

Instead, their targets are food companies that make processed foods and mass-marketed meals. According to them, those products are responsible for something like 80 percent of our collective salt intake.

The foods high on the list include bread, cereal, soups, condiments and prepared foods.

The plan, put forth by health department chief Dr. Thomas Friedman, calls for packaged food producers and restaurant chains — all of them in unison — to voluntarily scale back the salt content of their products by 25 percent during the next five years and another 25 percent in the five years after that.

The idea is that Americans won't notice a gradual decline in salt use, as our tastebuds adapt to lesser and lesser amounts.

If the companies refuse to comply, he has suggested the possibility of legislation.

According to health experts, a high-salt diet worsens — or perhaps causes — high-blood pressure, which is linked to the nation's number one killer: Cardiovascular disease.

In the past, Friedman's policies on smoking and trans fats start in New York, then serve as model for major cities across the United States. In this case, however, experts anticipate a tougher battle, because salt's effect on heart disease isn't as clear-cut as smoking or trans fats, according to an article in the New York Times.

Personally, I'm always staggered by the salt content on the labels of some foods. It's eye-opening — and troubling — to realize that a can of otherwise healthy soup contains something like 70 percent of the day's recommended allowance. 

The Times article mentioned that around the city's health department, the war on smoking, trans fats, and now salt are called "stealth health."

I know a lot of people don't like the food police interfering with our diets. Personally, it doesn't bother me much. I'm more concerned about other things — like improving health care across the board.