NEW research by Action on Salt, has found popular packaged sliced bread sold in UK supermarkets contain unnecessary amounts of salt , with some breads saltier per serve than 2x small portions of McDonald’s French fries .
Salt,says the Charity, is the major factor that raises our blood pressure, which is the world’s biggest killer (60% of strokes and 50% of heart disease). In the UK, bread is the main source of salt , with over 60 loaves of bread brought per person per year , and therefore is a key target in reducing population blood pressure.
Action on Salt is now urging the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to follow other countries around the world by setting mandatory salt reduction targets in order to create a level playing field across the food industry and reduce the thousands of people dying and suffering needlessly from strokes and heart disease.
Even small reductions in the salt content of bread will have a significant impact on public health e.g., a 6% reduction in the average salt content of bread would remove a whopping 926 tonnes of salt from the UK diet per year, equivalent to the weight of 132 elephants!
Of the 242 sliced breads surveyed in-store, three in four were found to contain as much salt or more per slice than a packet of ready salted crisps!
The saltiest culprit was Hovis White Loaf with starter dough, containing 1.48g/100g – nearly THREE times more salt than the lowest, Waitrose Rye and Wheat Dark Sourdough Bread (0.51g/100g).
Whilst the majority of breads fall below the 2024 maximum salt target as set by the Department of Health and Social Care in 2020 , these large variations in salt make it clear that the targets are far too lenient, with scope for further reductions .
Sheena Bhageerutty, Assistant Nutritionist at Action on Salt says: “Bread is the single biggest contributor of salt to our diets and therefore even the smallest of reductions in salt would go a long way for our health. This is why we urgently need companies to double down their efforts to reduce salt further and make salt reduction a priority.”
Sonia Pombo, Campaign Lead at Action on Salt says: “Our survey clearly demonstrates the huge variation in the salt content of bread and shows how easy it would be for those companies lagging behind to immediately reformulate. The time to obfuscate is over – action is needed now. The Government can no longer sit on their hands and do nothing when so many thousands of lives could be saved.”
Professor Graham MacGregor, Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine at Queen Mary University of London and Chairman of Action on Salt says: “Reducing salt is the most cost-effective measure to lower blood pressure and reduce the number of people dying and suffering from strokes and heart disease. It’s therefore a disgrace that food companies continue to fill our food with so much unnecessary salt, as shown here in bread. For too long the food industry have been in charge of public health, at our expense; it’s time for the Government to stop letting people die needlessly.”
