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Many
popular restaurant meals in the UK contain large amounts of salt, a
campaign group has said. Consensus
Action on Salt and Health (CASH) found that nearly three quarters of
the main course dishes had levels in excess of ideal daily limits.
They
say customers would have "no way of knowing" how much they
were eating.
And
the Trading Standards Institute, which carried out the research,
called for calorie labelling on menus to include fat and salt levels.
They measured the salt content of 96 popular menu items from high
street restaurant chains by purchasing them and having them analysed
independently.
Six
out of the 16 restaurant chains they looked at were serving a main
course dish containing 6g or more of salt - the recommended adult
daily limit.
The
saltiest main course was Old Orleans Chicken Fajitas, with 8.8g of
salt per serving.
A
Pizza Express American Hot Pizza contained 7.5g of salt per portion.
And
a Wagamama Ramen of noodles in chicken soup with chicken, prawn,
tofu and vegetables had 7.2g of salt per serving.
They
also found hidden salt in desserts, starters and side dishes.
By
comparison, at some of the restaurants surveyed, customers could
choose a low salt meal.
A
spokesman for the Old Orleans restaurant chain said they had been
working very hard to reduce the salt content of their food: "We
believe that the higher levels found were as a consequence of
over-seasoning in the individual restaurant.
"This
can occur because all our food is freshly prepared.
"We
are immediately retraining all our chefs to remind them of the
appropriate use of seasoning."
And
a spokesman for Pizza Express said: 'As part of the Food
Standards Agency's Healthy Eating Forum, Pizza Express has a salt
reduction programme in place that aims to reduce salt across its menu
without compromising on taste.
"And
as every pizza is handmade fresh in each restaurant, customers can
request more, less or none of a certain ingredient to suit their needs."
Wagamama
said they were "working towards reducing the levels of salt,
fats and sugars across our menu."
Carrie
Bolt, a nutritionist for CASH, said: "We would much rather
that restaurants gave their customers the choice when it comes to
salt in their meals - add less during the cooking stage and let
people add more at the table if they want to.
"After
all, no restaurant would dream of adding sugar to someone's coffee
or tea without asking them - why don't they give people the same
choice when it comes to salt?"
"By
comparison, ready meals sold in supermarkets have had their salt
content reduced considerably over the last few years."
The
Food and Drink Federation (FDF) pointed out new research which
showed that shoppers were buying less salty food.
The
TNS Worldpanel market research had shown that between September 2006
and September 2008, British shoppers bought 3,794 tonnes less salt in
five categories: bread, breakfast cereals, canned goods, crisps and
savoury home cooking products.
Julian
Hunt, director of Communications for the FDF, said: "This
builds on the reformulation work our members have been carrying out
over many years.
"Bread
and cereals are two good examples of categories where salt reduction
has been ongoing for some considerable time."
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