Consumer Study: Only 1 in 10 Brits Strictly Monitor Their Salt Intake

23 Sep 2014 --- New salt research released by Sainsbury’s to mark their support of the Government’s Responsibility Deal new salt pledges, shows that nearly half of Brits (42%) don’t monitor their salt intake and fewer than one in 10 (9%) monitor it strictly, while a further 43% don’t know the recommended daily salt intake for an adult.

- Less than one in three (31%) are sure that salt can represent a health risk
- 43% of Brits don’t know what the recommended daily salt intake is
- Monitoring salt intake is seen as less important than monitoring sat fat (41%), sugar (29%), and calories (21%)
- 1 in 5 (20%) add salt to food at the table

Even though 85% of people believe that the majority of salt intake comes from salt already present in food, only 22% always or regularly check the salt content of food products before choosing with 42% rarely or never bothering at all.

Only 31% are confident that salt poses a health risk and monitoring salt intake is thought less important than saturated fat (41%), sugar (29%) and calories (21%).

To help educate Brits on the importance of salt, the Government is calling upon brands to sign up to Salt Reduction and Out of Home Salt reduction pledge as part of the Responsibility Deal.

Sarah Warby, Marketing Director and Chair of Sainsbury’s Health Steering Group, said “This new research makes clear that it is really important that we help our customers to manage their salt intake within the recommended guidelines. We do this by providing clear front of pack labelling and an ongoing step by step approach to product reformulation to help our customers on the journey to enjoying food with a lower salt content. 95% of our own brand products already meet the government’s 2012 targets and I’m delighted that at Sainsbury’s, we’re able to continue to work with government to help improve the health of the nation.”

Jane Ellison, Public Health Minister said: “We want to help people to improve their health and the evidence shows that too much salt can lead to high blood pressure which can increase the risk of conditions such as heart disease and stroke.

"The World Health Organisation has recognised the UK as being among the world leaders in reducing salt in the diet but we want to go further to help prevent people dying early. The support of the industry, like the commitments given today, is a vital part of this.”

Waitrose has also pledged its support of the Department of Health’s latest salt reduction targets.

This follows the retailer’s long-term nutrition strategy which has seen 90 per cent of Waitrose own-label products already meet the Government’s first set of salt-reduction targets. It made particular progress in more challenging product categories such as bacon, scotch eggs, pizzas and sandwiches.

As well as advising its customers, Waitrose has progressively reduced the salt in its products. For instance bacon, the second biggest contributor of salt to the UK diet, has been reformulated to reduce its salt content by 10 per cent while maintaining the same great quality and taste.

Moira Howie, Nutrition Manager at Waitrose, comments: We’re pleased to continue our commitment to the Government Responsibility Deal by signing up to the 2017 salt targets.

“Our aim is to make good food even better as part of our Waitrose Way Living Well commitment and to continually bring our customers delicious, healthy foods as we reduce salt, sugar and saturated fats.”