There's a lot of nonsense written about the salt content of food. All too often facts are ignored in the quest for scaremongering headlines. In reality the manufacturing industry has a fantastic story to tell about salt reduction so Salt Awareness Week, starting on Monday, is a timely opportunity to remind stakeholders of the industry's achievements.
The facts should speak for themselves, The last time the FDF surveyed its members, in late 2005, we found 36% of products - worth around £7.4bn at retail - had a lower level of salt compared with the previous year. Our members are also providing consumers with a range of lower-salt alternatives. The survey found 23% of products, worth £2.4bn, were lower salt variants.
If you look at individual categories, bread sodium levels have been reduced by 25% since the late 1980s, and more recently, by a further 5% in sliced bread. Breakfast cereals have reduced sodium by 33% since 1998, while suppliers of soups and sauces have achieved reductions of 24% and 28% respectively.
The list goes on. Since 1999, the sodium content of some of Britain's most popular biscuits has been reduced by up to 20% and by up to 40% for the most popular brands of cakes and mince pies. In the last decade sodium levels of crisps have been reduced by 25% and the meat products industry has made progress towards achieving a two-year action plan to reduce salt. Quantitative data will be available later this year.
The FDF is also working with the FSA to establish a framework for reporting salt-reduction progress and backs the FSA's salt awareness campaign, which aims to encourage consumers to check levels in food.
Some critics claim the industry's progress doesn't go far enough or that it's not being achieved quickly enough. But it's important to remember the safety of food is paramount and there are other technical constraints that limit the speed of progress. We maintain a step-by-step approach to salt reduction is necessary to ensure palates readjust and consumers don't reject lower- salt products. The work on reducing salt levels in bread, cereals and other categories has shown this approach can be successful.
Consumers need to be able to make informed choices about the food they buy, which is why FDF members are committed to providing nutrition information. By the end of last year, more than 95% of products, worth almost £33bn at retail value, had nutrition information on pack. Fifty-eight per cent of products, worth £15bn, had GDAs on back of pack and 59% of products, worth £15bn, had salt equivalent information.
Some companies are even providing GDA information on front of pack. Twenty-one food and drink companies and three supermarket retailers have opted for this and GDA icons are now appearing on some 10,000 lines.
A £4m campaign was launched earlier this month to raise awareness of labelling among consumers. The campaign features GDA labels as the 'What's Inside Guide' - a tool that helps people by giving them a simple way of checking levels of energy and key nutrients in food.
This activity supports the shared government and industry objective of empowering consumers by giving them information. When it comes to salt, manufacturers are proud of their efforts to reformulate products, introduce clearer labelling and extend consumer choice.
John Wood is director of Food Safety and Science at the FDF
The facts should speak for themselves, The last time the FDF surveyed its members, in late 2005, we found 36% of products - worth around £7.4bn at retail - had a lower level of salt compared with the previous year. Our members are also providing consumers with a range of lower-salt alternatives. The survey found 23% of products, worth £2.4bn, were lower salt variants.
If you look at individual categories, bread sodium levels have been reduced by 25% since the late 1980s, and more recently, by a further 5% in sliced bread. Breakfast cereals have reduced sodium by 33% since 1998, while suppliers of soups and sauces have achieved reductions of 24% and 28% respectively.
The list goes on. Since 1999, the sodium content of some of Britain's most popular biscuits has been reduced by up to 20% and by up to 40% for the most popular brands of cakes and mince pies. In the last decade sodium levels of crisps have been reduced by 25% and the meat products industry has made progress towards achieving a two-year action plan to reduce salt. Quantitative data will be available later this year.
The FDF is also working with the FSA to establish a framework for reporting salt-reduction progress and backs the FSA's salt awareness campaign, which aims to encourage consumers to check levels in food.
Some critics claim the industry's progress doesn't go far enough or that it's not being achieved quickly enough. But it's important to remember the safety of food is paramount and there are other technical constraints that limit the speed of progress. We maintain a step-by-step approach to salt reduction is necessary to ensure palates readjust and consumers don't reject lower- salt products. The work on reducing salt levels in bread, cereals and other categories has shown this approach can be successful.
Consumers need to be able to make informed choices about the food they buy, which is why FDF members are committed to providing nutrition information. By the end of last year, more than 95% of products, worth almost £33bn at retail value, had nutrition information on pack. Fifty-eight per cent of products, worth £15bn, had GDAs on back of pack and 59% of products, worth £15bn, had salt equivalent information.
Some companies are even providing GDA information on front of pack. Twenty-one food and drink companies and three supermarket retailers have opted for this and GDA icons are now appearing on some 10,000 lines.
A £4m campaign was launched earlier this month to raise awareness of labelling among consumers. The campaign features GDA labels as the 'What's Inside Guide' - a tool that helps people by giving them a simple way of checking levels of energy and key nutrients in food.
This activity supports the shared government and industry objective of empowering consumers by giving them information. When it comes to salt, manufacturers are proud of their efforts to reformulate products, introduce clearer labelling and extend consumer choice.
John Wood is director of Food Safety and Science at the FDF
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