Washington ? Is salt the next trans fat?

Michael Jacobson hopes so. As the outspoken executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a Washington nutrition advocacy group, Jacobson has spent the last two decades leading the charge against everything from sulfites and saccharin to movie popcorn and fettuccine alfredo, which he dubbed “a heart attack on a plate.”

On Thursday, standing behind a table laden with processed food products, Jacobson announced that salt was his organization’s latest target. Saying salt “might be the single deadliest ingredient in the food supply,” Jacobson announced that his organization is suing the Food and Drug Administration in an effort to get the government to crack down on sodium in the food supply.

“The key to lowering sodium is not so much admonishing consumers as requiring manufacturers and restaurants to use less salt,” he said.

Salt consumption has steadily increased in the last several decades, with Americans consuming a daily average of 3,375 milligrams of sodium, far in excess of the 2,300 milligrams recommended by the federal government, which is roughly a teaspoon, he said.

The lawsuit calls on the FDA to change salt’s status from “generally recognized as safe” to that of “food additive,” giving the agency more regulatory muscle to limit salt in processed food. A similar lawsuit by the Center for Science in the Public Interest was dismissed from federal court in 1983.