Business information

Awareness of salt and fat in food is on the menu at Hertfordshire Trading Standards

Hertfordshire Trading Standards is working hard to educate consumers, retailers and manufacturers about salt and fat content in a variety of foods.

To mark Salt Awareness Week, which began on Monday, the results of tests on bread, children's meals and barbecue spare ribs bought across the county have been released.

They show that:
● the salt content in bread is down compared to 2005 in 37 samples taken from supermarkets and bakeries
● all bar one of children's meals purchased at 24 premises within the leisure and tourism industry had acceptable levels of fat, saturates, sugar and salt, according to Food Standards Agency (FSA) guidelines
● 10 of 13 samples of barbecue spare ribs contained more than the recommended daily intake of salt for an adult (6g)

Richard Smith, Executive Member for Community Safety, said: "It is very important for people to be aware of what they are eating at all times, not just with pre-packaged food.

"Much of what we eat does not come with labels, for example bread from a bakery, restaurant food and takeaways. We targeted some of these areas in a bid to raise awareness - not just among people buying the food, but those selling it as well.

"We provide advice, information and guidance in our push for better nutritional content and labelling of food. It is great news that the message seems to be getting through in some areas of the industry.

"However, we will not rest on our laurels as there are still improvements to be made. If parts of the catering industry insist on putting high levels of fat, sugar and salt into food to allegedly satisfy people's tastes, then perhaps they should be telling the consumer at the point of sale."

The average salt content of 37 samples of 400g white and wholemeal loaves of bread from supermarket, independent and large plant bakeries across Hertfordshire was 1.26%(5.04g). It was 1.34% (5.36g) in 2005 when similar samples were taken. The salt values ranged between 0.66% and 2.31%, with little difference between white and brown loaves.

Doctors recommend a maximum of 6g of salt a day for adults. For children, the recommended maximum is 3g for 1 to 3 year olds, 2g for 4 to 6 year olds, 3g for 7 to 10 year olds and 5g for 11 years and over.

The FSA has a traffic light system for fat, saturates, sugar and salt content in food. Green is low, amber is medium and red is high levels. All children's meals tested were green for sugar and green or amber for fat and saturates. Only one meal was red for salt.

All samples were analysed by Kent Scientific Sciences. The results were sent to the vendors and the East of England Trading Standards Association (EETSA).

A high salt intake can increase the risk to a person of high blood pressure, heart attacks and strokes.

More information and advice is available on the FSA's website at www.food.gov.uk or by calling Trading Standards on 01727 813849.