Salt content slashed in soups
most common food ingredient in the world, manufacturers in the UK
have laid out further plans to cut salt in food products.
Sliced bread, snacks, soups and sauces face tough new salt levels as industry body the Food and Drink Federation comes up with a set of rules to tackle the controversial issue of salt in processed foods.
Condemned for contributing to the worsening health problems in the population, consumer groups have come down hard on the food manufacturers pushing them to reduce the salt used in food recipes.
"The industry is committed to playing a constructive role in the government's food and health plans, and has made huge strides," said Martin Paterson, FDF deputy director general.
But he warned that reducing salt across a range of products will only work if the consumer desires it. "Working in a consumer democracy means that we can only move at the pace dictated by consumers. A reduced salt product which is left on the shelf by consumers or to which they add salt at the table, will not benefit anyone."
The statement comes but two weeks after the UK health minister Melanie Johnson sparked a row with the food industry after rejecting their plans to slash salt levels in food products. The minister accused the industry of not going 'nearly far enough', while the food industry suspected 'political spin'.
In a letter responding to earlier submissions from the industry this year for strategies to cut salt levels, the health minister Melanie Johnson wrote to over 20 food players - among them Kerry Foods, Heinz, Sainsbury, and McDonalds - warning them they had until September to come back with a better plan to beat the 'unacceptably high levels of salt'.
"We are astonished," a spokesperson from the UK Food and Drink Federation told FoodNavigator.com at the time.
"These are misleading suggestions of lack of cooperation and lack of progress on salt reduction in processed foods. The whole industry has pulled together to work with the government on improving the nation's health," said the FDF.
As a measure of their fury, the British Retail Consortium, the British Hospitality Association and the FDF responded with a vociferous letter to Johnson's boss, Health Secretary John Reid, deploring "inept political spin which has nothing to do with real attempts to improve the nation's health."
In a general shake-up last May the FDF set up an industry-wide programme to reduce salt - or more precisely sodium - in breakfast cereals, soups and sauces.
The new industry plans announced this week build on the reductions, setting out aims such as a 10 per cent fall in salt content for leading branded soups and meal sauces, cut by 10 per cent in 2003 and a 25 per cent drop in the cereals sector by the end of the year.
