Salt levels 'still too high'

Food manufacturers were accused today of only “tinkering” with excessive salt levels in processed foods.

The accusation came as the Northern Ireland Chest Heart and Stroke Association urged parents to cook their children’s meals from scratch and avoid prepared foods.

The medical charity said children were risking heart attacks and strokes in later life because of the amount of salt they eat.

The problem is not the quantity of salt added at the table, but the amount hidden in everything from breakfast cereals to chicken nuggets.

The charity warned parents and children that it was easy to exceed the recommended levels with a diet that most would consider normal.

A breakfast of cornflakes and two slices of toast contains nearly two grams of salt - half the recommended daily intake for primary school children, it said.

A small tin of beans contains another one and a half grams of salt, and an average burger a further two grams, they said. Even food normally considered to be sweet can contain salt – a doughnut has around a gram of salt.

The charity director of health, Myrtle Neill said: “It’s all very well to read on a food label that tomato ketchup has less than half a gram of salt in a normal serving, but what child eats the manufacturer’s recommended serving ?” Food producers had made a very slight reduction in the sodium content of bread, but it was still the largest single source of salt in people’s diet.

“Even the term ’sodium content’ can mislead consumers, because you have to multiply the sodium level by two and a half to work out the total salt,” said Ms Neill.

Primary school children should limit their daily salt intake to a maximum of four grams, adults to six, – but both were consuming up to 12 grams a day said the charity.

To control the salt level, parents were urged to cook their children’s meals from scratch.

To coincide with National Salt Awareness Week, the Chest Heart and Stroke Association also suggest:

:: Adding no salt at the table.

:: Curbing consumption of tomato ketchup and similar sauces.

:: Avoiding processed meat slices or processed cheese in children’s lunch boxes.

:: Providing fruit and water for break times instead of the money for crisps and fizzy drinks.

:: Limiting takeaway food ’treats’.

The charity chief executive Andrew Dougal said: “Food manufacturers are tinkering with the problem, but the sad truth is that the industry is to blame for getting our palates so used to salt over the years.

“We want to see the introduction of a nationally-agreed system of simple and accurate food labelling so that people can make up their own minds.”

Salt has been implicated by many medical studies in conditions including high blood pressure, strokes, heart disease, osteoporosis and stomach cancer.

The charity said any food containing less than 0.2 grams of sodium per 100 grams could be considered ’low salt’ . Anything higher than 0.5 grams per 100 should be eaten only in limited quantities.