The European Food Safety Agency’s (EFSA) publication of dietary reference values (DRVs) for sodium and chloride marks the end of ten years of work by nutrition scientists. The work, begun in 2009 aimed to update values for macronutrients such as proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals that were last set in the 1990s. Read EFSA’s article including interviews with some of its scientists on what this feat means, and its expected effects both on diets, health and policy work.