The Salt Institute's board of directors has decided to shut down the organization effective March 31, according to a statement by the Naples, Fla.-based group.

Established in 1914, the association "has long advocated the numerous uses and benefits of salt, ranging from winter roadway safety and water quality to health and nutrition," the statement said, without giving a specific reason why the group is shutting down.

Members included 33 salt producers, the majority based outside the U.S. The group reported revenue of $2.6 million.

The Salt Institute's stance was at odds with public health advice to the effect that Americans consume too much sodium, such as the "Draft Guidance for Voluntary Sodium Reduction Goals" the Food and Drug Administration proposed in 2016, which the Salt Institute attacked as unscientific and potentially dangerous to health. The draft guidance has not been finalized.

The activist group Center for Science in the Public Interest was not mourning the Salt Institute's passing, with co-founder and long-time Executive Director Michael Jacobson writing online that the trade group had "purposefully muddied the waters on sodium intake and health."

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