On a recent flight with American Airlines, it struck me how rarely, if ever, I open the airline’s little paper sachet of salt and pepper. I don’t know the statistics, but I have to believe that the vast majority of those sachets get thrown out without ever having been touched. Thus, I have a suggestion to make:

Dear Airline Companies: Stop providing salt & pepper as a default on all meals!

This could have triple benefits to our world:

  • The airlines would save a few shekels.
  • The wanton waste would be diminished. 
  • Lastly, and most importantly, people would be less inclined to consume unnecessary and unhealthy amounts of salt.

Most people consume too much salt with poor consequences on our health, including high blood pressure, hypertension, dehydration and water retention. We only need 1500mg of sodium chloride (=the amount in 3g of salt) per day. Many foods naturally contain sodium chloride so we should not be adding salt willy nilly.

If airlines made salt & pepper a special request to the flight attendant, granted that might mean a little extra labor, but it would provide far greater benefits for the passengers and society, more globally. Surely, it would send the world the right message? Who’s on board?

Your thoughts?

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