Article focus

Populations around the world are consuming too much salt, largely as a result of the high salt content of processed foods.

The UK is leading the world in salt reduction through the implementation of progressively lower voluntary salt targets across >80 categories of foods.

Bread is the largest contributor of salt to the UK diet—this research uses a series of cross-sectional surveys of the salt content in UK packaged bread to examine the reductions made over time and the progress made towards meeting the 1 g/100 g target.

Key messages

The salt content of bread sold in the UK has been progressively reduced over the last decade.

The results demonstrate that a target-based approach to salt reduction can work to reduce the salt content of popular foods.

Other countries around the world need to follow the UK's lead and set salt targets.

CASH is successfully working to reach a consensus with the food industry and Government over the harmful effects of a high salt diet, and bring about a reduction in the amount of salt in processed foods as well as salt added to cooking, and the table. To date we have been successful with many supermarkets and food manufacturers choosing to adopt a policy of gradually reducing the salt content of their products, and a Government-financed a campaign to raise awareness of the effects of salt on health.