The Food and Drug Administration has issued a final rule letting makers of foods with federal "standards of identity" replace some or all of their added salt with a salt substitute. Using one is optional. The rule was filed for public inspection October 9 and is scheduled to publish in the Federal Register October 13, 2026.
What changes
A standard of identity is an FDA rule on a specific food's ingredients, characteristics and production. Most of those that list salt as a required or optional ingredient did not allow a substitute. The rule defines a salt substitute as a "safe and suitable ingredient" (or combination of such ingredients) used to replace "some or all of the added salt (sodium chloride)," to reduce sodium, that "serves the functions of salt in the food." It amends 80 standards directly; the document says 59 more cross-refer to them, for 139 in all.
By this desk's count of its table, the 80 include 46 dairy standards (41 cheeses and cheese products, such as cheddar, Colby and Parmesan, plus milks, sour cream and eggnog) and 34 others, among them bread, macaroni, canned corn, peas, tomatoes and tuna, chocolate, margarine, mayonnaise and salad dressing.
The rule lists no specific substitute; FDA says it "does not limit salt substitutes to only potassium-based ingredients." It does not permit any ingredient not already permitted in non-standardized foods, and substitutes must not change the food's basic nature and essential characteristics.
Labels and potassium
The document says there are "no regulatory requirements or regulatory penalties" for makers that skip substitutes, and it requires no minimum sodium reduction. FDA says the rule adds no new labeling requirement. Existing rules apply: ingredients are listed by common or usual name, and potassium chloride must be declared as "potassium chloride" or "potassium salt." Potassium goes on the Nutrition Facts label at two percent or more of the recommended daily intake per serving. FDA declined to require a warning for people at risk of hyperkalemia (too much potassium in the blood).
Some comments said potassium-based substitutes could affect people who must monitor potassium because of conditions such as chronic kidney disease and heart failure, or medication use. FDA says it recognizes that need, points to the ingredient list and Nutrition Facts label, and says standards of identity do not address dietary restrictions tied to a person's specific disease conditions or use of certain medications. It says it does not know how many foods will be reformulated and cannot determine how far the rule may affect the amount of potassium in the food supply.
The dates
The inspection copy prints brackets, not dates. The rule is effective "[INSERT DATE 60 DAYS AFTER DATE OF PUBLICATION IN THE FEDERAL REGISTER]"; the Register's own record for the scheduled rule gives December 14, 2026. By this desk's count, 60 days after October 13 is Saturday, December 12; the Register's Document Drafting Handbook says that when a computed date falls on a weekend or a federal holiday, it uses the next federal business day, here Monday, December 14. Objections and hearing requests on the dairy standards (21 CFR parts 131 and 133) are due 30 days after publication: November 12 in the Register's record, matching this desk's count. The rule takes effect except for any dairy provisions that "may be stayed by the filing of proper objections"; the document does not say whether any will be filed.