The UK is “leading the way” on reducing salt levels in food, according to the Food and Drink Federation (FDF).
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Responding to the Food Standards Agency’s (FSA) latest salt awareness campaign, Julian Hunt, FDF director of communications, said that food companies have invested “heavily” over many years to change the recipes of some of the UK’s “biggest and best-loved” brands so they are lower in salt.
“By deploying its world-class research capabilities in this way, the UK industry is now widely acknowledged to be leading the way on reformulation. And our new Recipe for Change report highlights how companies of all sizes have been reducing the salt content of everyday products such as bread, breakfast cereals, cooking sauces, snacks and soups,” Hunt said.
The FSA campaign launched today (5 October), highlighted that bread and breakfast cereals are among the highest salt-contributing foods in our diet.
The health watchdog warns that more than three quarters of people (77%) are unaware that bread and breakfast cereals are among the daily foods that contribute most salt to our diet.
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By GlobalDataHunt, however, believes its members are “totally committed” to helping consumers eat more healthily, using reformulation as one method.
“We are also providing clearer nutrition information on packs – through the widespread use of front-of-pack labelling based on Guideline Daily Amounts (GDA) – which is helping raise awareness among consumers that they should consume no more than their GDA of 6g of salt per day,” he added.
The FSA has warned that too much salt can lead to high blood pressure, which triples the risk of heart disease and stroke and doubles the chance of dying from the diseases.
The Association of Breakfast Cereal Manufacturers said it is continually looking for ways to develop and improve its products in response to consumer demand.
“Cereals have successfully been reducing salt in their products for a number of years, without reducing the quality of the food,” said Lynne Garton, an independent registered dietician. “The significant reductions made to date reinforce the fact that cereals contribute a very small proportion of salt in the diet. Breakfast cereals can also make a very important contribution to the intakes of several vitamins and iron in the diet – between 25% and 30%.”
