Taco Bell reducing sodium in menu items

Taco Bell has been steadily cutting salt from its menu since 2009, and you probably didn't even taste the difference.

Taco Bell, which is owned by Yum! Brands, has been using 15 percent less salt in its menu items.

CEO Greg Creed told The Courier-Journal: "We pulled sodium out of everything, tortillas, beef, marinade for chicken, fire sauce. There is not an ingredient that we haven't pulled sodium out of."

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommends a daily sodium intake of no more than a teaspoon of salt, or 2,300 milligrams. The FDA says most food contains about 10 percent of natural salt, but people will often add an extra 5-10 percent of salt when cooking or eating the food.

Just because Taco Bell is cutting down on the salt, though, doesn't mean all their menu items are suddenly healthy.

Its smothered burrito with shredded chicken still contains 2,220 milligrams of sodium -- that's just 80 milligrams less than what's recommended a person consume in a day.

Removing salt from fast food menus isn't a completely new idea.

Yum! Brands says on its website that it's been removing salt from its other chains, KFC and Pizza Hut, as well.

McDonald's has also been lowering its usage of salt in its food items.

There's a reason no one has really noticed: NPR reported back in 2012 that companies and restaurants can remove up to 20 percent of salt in food items without anyone tasting a difference.

Taco Bell is going to continue cutting back on sodium. Its chief nutrition officer told The Courier-Journal the franchise wants 20 percent of its menu items to contain about one-third of the daily allowance of salt by the year 2020.

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