Restaurants to advise of high salt content

Restaurants could be forced to issue "high in salt" warnings on their menus if food manufacturers fail to reduce the amount used in dishes.

Public health minister, Melanie Johnson, warned today that commitment is expected by February 2004 to reduce salt across a range of products and that this applied to caterers.

Johnson said that most products would need to reduce the salt to meet the recommended 6g adult daily intake.

"Salt can be a hidden killer. Whereas most people are generally aware of the risks of a high sugar or high fat diet, they're often unaware of the effect of high salt intake," she said.

She said that while some manufacturers had made moves to reduce salt levels, there were still many products containing nearly half of the adult daily target.

"If we don't see progress, then action on food labelling could be the answer," she said.

The Food Standards Agency has set targets to reduce average salt intakes by 10%, about 1g per day by 2006 and in the longer term to reduce average intakes by a third over the next five years.

by Christina Golding

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