You can cut salt the easy way or the hard way.

That was Mayor Bloomberg’s warning today to food manufacturers as he announced an agreement with 16 companies — including Heinz and Boars Head — to reduce sodium in their products over the next five years.

“If you want federal regulation, a good ways to get it is to not do something,” Bloomberg said.

“If for no other reason than that, if I were in the industry — I’m a consumer rather than a producer — I would say the last thing I’d want is the federal government regulating. I’d rather have flexibility…You can see already there are people in government urging regulation of sodium. I think we’d be much better off letting the marketplace do that.”

The mayor conceded that he’s got something of a salt habit himself, sprinkling the tasty substance on just about everything that enters his mouth. He said that’s not a big issue since 80 percent of the salt consumed in the U.S. is from processed foods.

But there’s one myth that Bloomberg put to rest — despite reports to the contrary, the mayor insisted he does not put salt on his Saltines.