Pubs urged to sign up to salt reduction targets

By Ellie Bothwell

- Last updated on GMT

Related tags Food Hypertension

The pledge calls for food outlets to slash salt in the 10 most popular high street dishes
The pledge calls for food outlets to slash salt in the 10 most popular high street dishes
Pub chains must sign up to salt reduction targets to combat the nation’s alarming levels of heart attacks and strokes, councils have urged.

The Local Government Association (LGA), which represents almost 400 councils in England and Wales, claims that only one restaurant group and one fast-food chain have committed to a new voluntary salt reduction target proposed by the Department of Health five months ago.

The pledge, which is part of the Government's Public Health Responsibility Deal, calls for food outlets to slash salt in the 10 most popular high street dishes, which include chips, burgers, chicken portions, battered or breaded fish, pies, curries, beef steaks and grilled chicken, sandwiches, pasta meals and pizzas.

LGA claims that some restaurant and pub meals have been found to contain up to 9g of salt – 3g more than the recommended daily allowance.

'Pub chains must commit swiftly'

Katie Hall, chair of the LGA’s Community Wellbeing Board, said: "We need to tackle head-on excessive levels of salt in foods and the big high street restaurants and pubs chains need to get on board and commit swiftly.

"Many supermarkets have signed up to similar salt reduction government targets, which makes the reluctance of the restaurants even more surprising and indefensible.

"Government statistics show thousands of deaths from salt-related health issues like high blood pressure and strokes could be saved, along with hundreds of millions of pounds to the public health purse. This issue needs to be addressed by everyone in the food industry, quickly, comprehensively and – above all – robustly."

JD Wetherspoon has signed up to salt targets to be met by 2017​, committing to support and enable consumers in reducing their salt intake to a maximum level of 6g a day for adults – the recommended daily allowance from the Scientific Advisory Commission on Nutrition.

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