Sodium in packaged and takeaway foods and targets for breads and cereals

Sodium is in the spotlight again, with the release of Food Standards Australia New Zealand's (FSANZ) recent survey on the sodium levels in packaged and takeaway foods (1) and the Government's announcement that sodium reduction targets for breads and ready to eat breakfast cereals have been set (2).

Reducing sodium in the Australian diet is a major health priority as excess is linked to high blood pressure and risk of heart disease. Both adults and children are eating more than their requirements with most coming from processed/packaged and takeaway foods (3,4).

The FSANZ survey was undertaken between September 2008 to April 2009 with foods purchased from supermarkets and takeaway outlets in NSW and Western Australia. It found a wide range of sodium levels  within the same type of foods tested, either a result of the foods specific formulation, whether salt was added at point of purchase or whether consumers added their own at home.  A surprising finding was the high sodium in some varieties of sweet biscuits due to sodium additives. Over 85% of the products tested had sodium levels close to or lower than those reported on the nutrition information panel on the label.

The Government's announcement that the leading bread and breakfast cereal manufacturers have agreed to reduce the sodium levels of these foods is a positive step. Bread manufactures have agreed to reduce sodium across all bread categories to 400mg sodium/100g by 2013 (100g of bread is about 2-3 slices). Breakfast cereal manufacturers will reduce the sodium level of their cereals that exceed 400mg sodium/100g by 15% over 4 years. These targets were agreed following negotiations between governnment, food manufacturers and public health groups (Food and Health Dialogue).

Heinz baby foods and infant cereals are already low in sodium ( less than 100mg sodium /100g)  as they must comply with the strict standards of the Food Standards Code (5) . Once children are over 12 months and consuming family foods children can easily exceed sodium requirements,so Heinz has developed nutritional guidelines for their  Little Kids range of foods. These include a sodium target of less than 120mg/100g where possible  and for the product to contain less sodium than other similar foods (6).

References.

1.FSANZ. Sodium levels in a range of packaged and take-away foods. http://www.foodstandards.gov.au/scienceandeducation/publications/

2. Hon Mark Butler, Parliamentary Secretary for Health. Salt Reduction Targets Agreed. Media Release 22nd March, 2010 http://www.health.gov.au/internet/ministers/publishing.nsf/Content

3. Neal B. Dropping the salt in children's diets - a priority for Australia  http://www.heinzsight.com.au/2008/12/reducing-salt-in-childrens-diets

4. www.heinzsight.com.au/2009/02/fast-food-contains-too-much-salt

5. FSANZ. Food Standards Code. Standard 2.9.2 www.foodstandards.gov.au

6. Nutritional Guidelines for Heinz Little Kids Foods www.heinzsight.com.au/heinzsight/files/NutritionGuidelinesforHeinzLittleKids.pdf

 

 

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