Sling the salt

LizEstelle

Ok, you go into any of the big 4/5 retailers and try to find a low salt product range... guess what you'll find.

Again, I think you're over-egging your argument. I have no intention of depriving anyone of THEIR rights. I'm quite happy for others to be offered salt-specific foods - crisps, Marmite, smoked stuff and so on.

I simply wish to be given a paltry few rights of my own. The choice NOT to buy is not a choice. I'd be happy with just a few of the basics - bread, cereals etc - in low sodium alternatives. Is that really too much to ask in a scenario where there is an NHS time bomb ticking on this, just as there is on sugar and fat?

It really isn't happening. Taking Tesco as a prime example, as far as I'm aware, the ONLY item where salt has been specifically reduced is their 'healthy living' baked beans - mimicking the Heinz move - and that's IT.
Just that, out of their thousands of food lines.

I've read certain articles which claim that some manufacturers have actually INCREASED the salt content of their stuff - see my earlier post - as a competitive move.

I do appreciate the 'industry's problem - if one manufacturer were to reduce salt content precipitously in its products, it would immediately lose customers who would follow their salt-orientated taste buds to competitors.

This is a perfectly sound argument and shows the absolute need for the government to step in and set a level playing field through regulation. It has to be done slowly and by small increments... and in the meantime, for the non-salties like me, the major retailers could be obliged to offer very low salt ranges. Heaven alone knows, there are precious few restraints on the activities and profits of these people. Maybe time for a few and for government to do a teensy bit of ... governing.

ka7e

I don't use salt in cooking (use 1/2tsp in breadmaker, though), instead I use huge amounts of freshly ground black pepper! Dust it over potatoes when you put them in to roast for an absolutely great flavour.

Ted_Hutchinson

LizEstelle wrote:

Maybe time for a few and for government to do a teensy bit of ... governing.

While I agree with the general thrust of your posts I do think you should give credit where it is due. Industry activity 2005 shows that some movement in the right direction has occured. I agree about Tesco's though.

Perhaps anyone with a Tesco's ready meal could read the salt content and put that much salt on their digital scales and take a photo of it to put online.

Until you have done this a few times you just will not believe how much salt they actually use per portion/pack. No one in their right minds would put that much salt on a plate of food and the only reason Tesco's get away with it is because they realise nobody ever checks the amount or realises how many teaspoons of salt it represents.

As the government have to pay for the consequences this ridiculous, dangerous oversalting of food costs in regards to the NHS outcomes, it seems to me they are negligent in failing to take a firmer line. I suspect the reason they won't stand up to Tesco's and the other big multiples is they are hoping for lucrative Directorships as soon as they leave politics.

LizEstelle

Couldn't agree more.

I'm sorry but I still believe the 'industry' won't budge until it's forced to. I can only go by what I see in the shops. There's no choice for anyone who wishes/needs to avoid salt except that of not buying at all.

A shame.

Sarahsaver

I choose not to buy processed food. We have all the information available to us, people make the 'wrong' choices. As long as fresh fruit and veg and meat don't have added salt I will be ok.

rainbowrisin

Have had a think about this today..
and I still think education, persuasion and consumer pressure are better tools than legislation in tackling this issue. Over the past few years, the food industry has responded to the wants of consumers, brought about through education on the ill effects of certain foods in excess, as well as the massive increase in allergies, by producing a fairly comprehensive range of lo-fat foods, gluten free foods, dairy free foods and sugar free / reduced sugar foods - there have also been some more bizarre products available depending on the current food fad gripping the nation - I believe there were (maybe still are) a range of lo-carb foods brought out for atkins disters.
Legislation wasn't needed then, and I would still suggest is not needed now.
I would suggest that the public are only just becoming aware of the risks associated with a high salt diet, and there will be a time lag before awareness is at such a level that sufficient consumer pressure is exerted to bring about change. Once a market is created then the food industry will provide a product to satisfy that market.
Have you contacted the major supermarkets to ask what plans they have for low salt products - I believe Sainsburys tend to be quite pro-active in that direction? It may be they are on the point of launching so low salt basic foods - I don't know.
Have you contacted the Department of Health and asked what else they plan to do around raising awareness around the high levels of salt in certain foods - I thought Ted's point about a visual representation of the high levels of salt in foods was a really good one.
Are there any pressure groups concerned with salt levels in foods and keen for alternatives?
I would suggest that perhaps if you got some of this info and posted it up on MSE then there are a lot of people reading the site who could begin to exert more consumer pressure. I would certainly be happy to add my virtual voice to any campaign to reduce the amount of rubbish in food, be it salt, trans fat, mind boggling amounts of strange E numbers or whatever.
I see the role of the Government to be that of educating the individual on lifestyle choices, not dictating what those choices might be. The whole "NHS on the edge of collapse, lets not treat anyone who has an unhealthy lifestyle" debate is on another thread somewhere on the Discussion Board, as memory serves me.
If I ruled the world (or the UK, for that matter) then I would ban processed food in its entirity (right down to tomato ketchup and branston pickle) and be dXXned to the consequences :eek: . Thankfully for the world (and the UK) it is unlikely that this situation will arise, and looking at the issue from a more realistic perspective I see consumer pressure as the key to the matter.

Ted_Hutchinson

Sarahsaver wrote:

I choose not to buy processed food. We have all the information available to us, people make the 'wrong' choices. As long as fresh fruit and veg and meat don't have added salt I will be ok.

I agree that it will require legislation. rainbowrisin's ideas are all very well but it simply takes too long and people are dying now as a consequence.

The latest statistics singling out Boston as the place with the highest obesity levels shows the issue. Those who have lived in Boston know that it is a low wage economy area and there are estates where there is a high level of unemployment, and it also has a high (if not the highest) rate of teenage pregnancies. These are not the kind of people, on the whole, who are going to be reading health or even money saving forums. They aren't going to be persuaded by rational argument or authority figures. They will buy their food at the cheapest place and enjoy their take-aways preferring the ones which offer the biggest servings at the cheapest price. I think these naive people need protection from being taken advantage of by food manufacturers who know they can mask poor quality ingredients with lashings of salt and deep frying it in hydrogenated fats.

The only way to reduce that amount they are smoking is to impose a smoking ban so smoking becomes inconvenient. The only way to stop them eating large amounts of the cheapest, greasiest, saltiest foods is to put limits on the amount of trans fat, salt and portion sizes. The sooner we do this the more lives we will save.

Sodium intake and hypertension.

Sarahsaver

Exactly Ted, but do the government REALLY care about people like that? Do they want to improve the health of everyone? No-one is dragged kicking and screaming to eat processed food, but to uphold the class/underclass system SOMETHING has to remain in place and food is a very powerful tool in maintaining social divisions!

Ted_Hutchinson

Kids' Food That Has 'More Salt Than The Sea'

Rage_in_Eden

I have never cooked with salt -not only for health reasons but also if yo useason somebody's food for them that's a little impolite surely. Do use a lot of black pepper though and some things I do put salt on on my plate. Incidentally, last night I was having my Horlicks and turned to Mr Rage and said "this Horlicks tastes really salty" - we also had some ice-cream as well during the evening which DH said was okay but I felt was a bit on the salty side (had honey in it) - maybe it's to do with all the antibiotics I'm on...... Once, many years ago, when I was a Brown Owl we did the cookery badge and they had to do beans on toast at their test for them and a guest (or whatever on toast). One Mum was horrified and said that beans to be used were loaded with salt and then proceeded to give her child another variety which had... just as much salt in them. I laughed to myself!! This was also the same child who wouldn't eat vegetables or brown bread - go figure.....