This is a bit old, and in direct contradiction of what you might expect coming off the bacon story, but it seems, prepared foods are getting healthier by reducing the amount of salt they contain:

Getting companies on board is the most important part: according to the NYC Health Department, 80 percent of the salt consumers eat is added to food before it’s sold. But luckily, some companies are already in favor of lowering sodium—they just don’t want you to know about it.

They don’t want you to know about it because their research shows that healthy is not too important in the scheme of things. From that same article:

According to a survey conducted by the International Food Information Council Foundation (IFIC), taste ranks the highest (at 87 percent) when it comes to factors affecting consumer choices. Next comes price, and healthfulness is only third on the scale. “The minute you start whispering this is healthier for you, people start getting very nervous about the taste,” says Hank Cardello, a former food executive and current CEO of 27°NORTH, a consulting firm that helps companies address social issues. “If you start talking about how healthy a hamburger is, or french fries, people will start to think, oh man, that must be awful.”

Can you imagine if we started to restrict the number of carrots we let our kids eat? “Honey, finish your donut holes and then you can have your carrots.” Could it possibly lead to the following dinner table fight? “But Dad, I don’t like donut holes! They’re icky and mom always puts too much powdered sugar on the outside.”

I wish. I’m not convinced reverse psychology, compulsive overeater style, would work but hey, who knows. If anyone wants to lend me an infant for an 18 year experiment, let me know. You’re on the hook for college though.