Research by Consensus Action on Salt and Health (CASH) reveals the high levels of salt in food purchased in restaurants – of all kinds – up and down the country for National Salt Awareness Week 2013, 11 – 17 March.
The survey looked at 664 main meals from 29 popular high street and celebrity restaurants, fast food and cafe chains, and found that 347 meals had more than 2.4g of salt per portion – that’s 52% of all meals surveyed that would be labelled in a supermarket with a red traffic light.
Celebrity chef restaurants and high street chain restaurants both came out higher than cafes and fast food chains, partly due to larger portion sizes, with an average of 3.1g salt per meal, half a person’s daily recommended amount of salt. The thirteen saltiest main meals in the survey contained more than your entire 6g maximum recommended daily allowance of salt.
- Out of nearly 700 main meals surveyed, over 50% were high in salt
- 13 meals surveyed had more than 6g of salt per meal – the maximum recommendation for a whole day
- 54% of people surveyed find restaurant meals too salty; 70% of people surveyed think chefs should be responsible for helping them to eat less salt
Chefs still hooked on salt
“We have lifted the lid on chef’s cooking and found they are still hooked on the white stuff.” says Campaign Director and Nutritionist for CASH, Katharine Jenner. “We are all eating too much salt; if you want to cut down at home, you can do: by reading the labels, using less salt in cooking, and using less processed food. However, it’s not so easy when you are grabbing lunch on the go or out for a nice evening meal. As most of the salt we eat is hidden in our food, for National Salt Awareness Week, CASH, with the support of 11 national health charities, we are asking the public to stand up to chefs and ask for ‘less salt please!’”.
54% find restaurant meals too salty
Alongside the food analysis, public research undertaken for Salt Awareness Week found that more than half (54%) of people find restaurant meals too salty, and 9 out of 10 people believe that restaurants and cafes should let them choose if they want to add salt to their meal or not.
Chefs commit to reduce salt levels
Celebrity Chefs Antony Worrall Thompson, Jamie Oliver and Raymond Blanc have already committed to reduce salt levels, Raymond Blanc comments:
“I believe that good food does not need more than the very lightest of seasoning – there is no reason for good chefs to mask the flavour of their ingredients by adding too much salt. Remember herby, sour, bitter and acid are also wonderful catalysts of flavour. I fully support CASH and their Salt Awareness Week. Let’s all eat better by going easy on the salt.”
National Salt Awareness Week 2013
Is encouraging everyone to eat less salt and to enjoy the real flavour of food. Even with great progress being made in the retail sector, we are still eating too much salt, with a population average intake of 8.1 grams per day, much more than the maximum daily recommendation of 6g per day [about a teaspoon].
The Department of Health estimates that reducing salt intakes by just 1g – a pinch of salt – would save 4,147 preventable deaths and £288 million to the NHS every year. A high salt diet is also linked to a number of other serious health conditions such as stomach cancer, osteoporosis and kidney disease.
National scandal
“It’s a national scandal that there is still so much salt in our food.” Graham MacGregor, Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine at The Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine, Queen Mary University and Chairman of CASH comments: “Salt puts up our blood pressure, and as a result, thousands of people die unnecessarily each year from strokes, heart attacks and heart failure. Whilst efforts have been made by foods in supermarkets to use less salt, chefs’ preference for saltier foods is preventing further progress. It’s clear from our survey that some chefs are not listening to their customers. These chefs need to get their act together and stop shovelling salt in our food.”
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