Reducing the excessive amount of salt in food, one of the main allies of hypertension suffered by one out of every three Philadelphians (according to data from 2014), has become one of the main open fronts of the Department of Public Health; an ailment which Latinos and, especially, Blacks are particularly sensitive to.

Focused on avoiding the fulfillment of shattering forecasts and aware that Chinese food is one of the most numerous in the city of Philadelphia, with at least 400 restaurants, largely located in the areas with the highest Black and Latino populations –according to data provided by the members of the Public Health Department in 2013—in 2012, the Public Health Department, with the help of the Philadelphia Chinese Restaurant Association, the Center for Asian Health of Temple University and the Asian Community Health Coalition, decided to launch The Philadelphia Healthy Chinese Take-Out Initiative. 

Nearly 200 restaurants in the city joined this project, launched to train, educate and modify the techniques of chefs in the participating restaurants towards healthier habits –reducing the amount of sauce, using ingredients low in sodium, changing canned for fresh vegetables or doing away with table salt, among others.—

And two years after its launching The Philadelphia Healthy Chinese Take-Out Initiative seems to be producing results, as shown in a report published at the end of last January. Around 24 months after the training period, participating restaurants (currently 185 in all), have not only considerably reduced the amount of sodium in their most popular dishes, such as General Tso’s Chicken –by 13 percent--, but have also managed to provide no difference in flavor for 90 percent of consumers.