Retailers' and manufacturers' salt commitments

Friday 21 May 2010

Since 2003, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) has been working with the food industry to secure reductions in the amount of salt in a wide range of foods, because about 75% of the salt we eat is already in the food that we buy.

In May 2009, the Agency published new more challenging voluntary salt reduction targets for 2012 for 80 categories of foods and revised targets for a limited range of food categories for 2010, replacing the previous targets for 2010, which were set in 2006.

The Agency is interested in looking at progress made by UK food businesses towards achieving the salt targets and any remaining barriers to doing so and has re-launched the salt commitments table for this purpose.

The Agency is encouraged by the range of organisations that continue to commit to salt reduction across their product ranges, particularly those companies that have firm plans to try to meet the FSA’s salt targets. The commitments include entries from major UK and international manufacturers, the major retailers and key trade associations.

All companies that have submitted an entry to the salt commitments table (see link below) are working towards the FSA’s salt targets for 2010. Some have gone even further and are now working towards the 2012 targets.

In addition, the catering industry is taking action on salt reduction as part of its work to make it easier for people to make healthier choices when eating out. The commitments made by businesses in this sector can be viewed at the link below.

Overall, the FSA recognises the good progress that has already been made by the industry, and is pleased that so many businesses are dedicated to working on salt reduction and appreciates the wide range of challenges they face in doing so, including food safety, technological and processing issues, and consumer acceptability. We welcome all efforts on salt reduction. These achievements and commitments show how the UK is leading the world on salt reduction and will help us to continue progress towards our goal of adults having no more than 6g of salt a day, and less for children.