Manufacturers are making clear progress in reducing the amount of salt in food, but unclear labelling risks misleading customers who rely on the information on food labels to reduce their salt intake.

That’s the key finding of the most comprehensive study undertaken by councils in the UK into the amount of salt in food.

The study, coordinated by the Local Authorities Coordinators of Regulatory Services (LACORS), and undertaken by council trading standards and environmental health officers, of 831 products from across the country found that:

* The salt content of the foods tested has reduced by 10.9% since May 2005.
* However less than half of the foods tested had achieved the specific salt reduction targets for 2010 as identified by the Food Standards Agency for their product group.
* Samples taken indicate a high level of accuracy between actual salt content and that reflected on the label.
* More than one in five noodle type snacks contain more than 4g of salt per serving - two thirds of the recommended daily consumption for an adult.
* There is evidence that the serving sizes of some products are being tailored to produce lower salt content per serving on the label. For example some breakfast cereals give a portion size of 30g when in reality most people eat far more than that in one serving, whilst serving sizes on some ready meal curries vary from 175g to 500g. Some chicken nuggets have been labelled with the salt content for a serving size of one nugget when clearly most people would eat far more than this.

Council trading standards officers will, over the coming years, continue to take part in this national approach to monitoring the trends in salt content of food. Health and nutrition are critical priorities for local government with many councils using innovative approaches to reduce people’s salt intake. Gateshead Council, for example, provides local takeaways and restaurants with specially designed salt shakers which cut the amount of salt added to food by over 60%.

Commenting on the findings, Cllr Geoffrey Theobald OBE, Chairman of LACORS, said:

“Although manufacturers have taken healthy strides towards cutting salt content in food, they need to do more if the industry is to achieve the Food Standards Agency’s targets for 2010.

“There is concern that customers are being hoodwinked and misled by some manufacturers who are deliberately quoting unreasonably small portion sizes on their packaging to mask the true salt content of their products. This is worrying as labels provide the main source of information for consumers wanting a healthy and balanced diet.

“The declaration of the salt per serving size is an important piece of information that allows consumers to make informed choices in pursuit of a healthy diet. Stating the salt content of a single chicken nugget can be deceptive, since it’s extremely unlikely that anyone would eat a single chicken nugget for dinner.

“It would make it much easier for consumers to make informed choices if nutritional information was presented in a meaningful way. The ‘salt per serving’ unit should be a realistic quantity and not one that provides a false sense of security to people buying the product.”

On the findings regarding dried noodle based products, Cllr Geoffrey Theobald OBE, Chairman of LACORS, said:

“This problem is not unique to noodle type snacks but there are few other products where such high levels of salt are found with such a variable and potentially hidden salt content.

“Noodle based snacks are particularly popular with children and young people, so there may be an argument to carry out a wider survey to investigate whether these products are subject to the general trend of salt reduction.”