By Olivia Scheck
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — A new bill, which would ban the use of salt by New York chefs, has left a bad taste in the mouths of many Manhattan foodies.
If passed, the bill, proposed by Brooklyn Assemblyman Felix Ortiz, would stop restaurants from using salt in the preparation of food, or face a $1,000 fine, according to the Daily News.
"New York City is considered the restaurant capital of the world," celebrity chef Tom Colicchio told the News. "If they banned salt, nobody would come here anymore."
"Anybody who wants to taste food with no salt, go to a hospital and taste that," he told the paper.
Instead of food seasoned by chefs, patrons would be left to salt their food themselves.
It's an attempt by the assemblyman to bring under control health problems related to excessive salt intake.
"It's time for us to take a giant step," Ortiz said, according to the News. "We need to talk about two ingredients of salt: health care costs and deaths."
The bill is not the first attack on salt shakers — the Department of Health recently announced a program that proposed restaurants and packaged food creators should cut salt content by 25 percent by 2014.