UK Food Industry Awaits Decision on Potassium-Based Salt Replacers

06 May 2014 --- The UK food industry is awaiting a response from the Department of Health regarding the use of potassium-based salt replacers, which would “significantly help” in reaching the new salt reduction targets, according to experts.

“Many retailers and manufacturers would jump at the chance to use it, and it would significantly help in reaching the targets,” Sonia Pombo from the Consensus Action on Salt and Health (CASH) told FoodIngredientsFirst. However, it is unlikely a decision will be made this year, she explained.

The news follows last week’s publication by the Food Standards Agency of revised salt targets for processed foods, to be implemented by 2017. Pombo confirmed that CASH believed these targets are achievable.

“The Department of Health spent a significant amount of time in 2013 reviewing the 2012 targets and setting new reasonable targets for the food industry,” she said. “It has been met with some resistance, however in many categories of food where salt is not required for any safety reason, gradual reductions of about 10-20% in salt could be made without having an impact on taste or sales. Some categories are more challenging than others, but it can be done.”

Pombo also noted that CASH welcomed the addition of the out-of-home catering sector in the revised salt reduction targets. “For too long the out-of-home catering sector was left out of the targets,” she said. “Thankfully now, this has changed, and separate targets (max per serving) have now been set for the ten most popular meals.”

Great progress has already been made since the salt reduction programme began in 2003, said Pombo, but in some cases targets could have been stricter and as a nation the UK is lagging behind its original plan to set targets every two years. “We are now consuming 15% less salt than we did 10 years ago,” she confirmed. “The benefits of this can be seen in the latest paper in the BMJ Open, whereby a link between a reduction in salt intake and blood pressure can be seen. Within the same time period, there was a fall in deaths from heart disease and strokes, which could be attributed to the reduction in salt within the UK.”

The UK is now leading the world in salt reduction, she explained. “Other countries look to us for advice, but we are still consuming more than the maximum recommended intake of 6g a day, about a third more (8.1g/day),” she said. “These new targets are a great step forward in getting national levels down further, provided all members of the food industry get on board.”

The 2017 targets are suitably challenging and wide-ranging but recognise the different starting points and technical challenges. The categories remain substantially the same as the previous 2012 targets: one additional category has been added on meat extracts; one sub-category on salted butter was removed where industry had already met the target; and several minor changes have been made to better reflect current market position. This reduces the number of categories from 80 (2012 targets), to 76 in the 2017 targets.

by Sonya Hook