Health Canada warns sodium reduction off track as 2025 deadline nears

Health Canada warns that the food industry’s progress on sodium reduction is lacking. With the 2025 target looming, only “moderate progress” has been made. A separate new study urges implementing mandatory measures after discovering that thousands of lives and millions of dollars from healthcare can be saved if companies adhere to government recommendations.

The government department encourages further processed food monitoring to ensure Canadians consume no more than 2,300 mg/day to lower the risks of developing chronic diseases. This benchmark, which must be met by the end of the year, was established by the revised voluntary sodium reduction targets.

Health Canada compared 2017 baseline levels with 2023–24 results to check for progress for target food categories. It analyzed 1,283 food labels sampled from Canadian grocery stores during this period — representing around 80% of market sales (kg), not including pizza crust (60%).

Health Canada reports varying degrees of progress in sodium reduction across food categories, with 100% representing full achievement of the 2025 target — not total elimination of sodium. The greatest improvement was seen in hearth breads, such as baguettes, rye, and pumpernickel, which achieved 40.3% of the target reduction. White pantry breads, rolls, bagels, croissants, and flatbreads followed at 18.5%, while breads with savory additions and processed cheeses reached 15.3%. Ready-to-serve soups showed more modest progress at 6.2%.

However, some categories have higher sodium levels now than in 2017. These include whole wheat and mixed grain bakery products (up 7.6%), ready-to-eat cereals (up 19.2%), tomato sauce (up 26.4%), and pizza crust (up 57.6%).

Additionally, ready-to-serve soups, white bread products, and tomato sauce have reduced sodium in their saltiest products but are still close to the maximum level targets.

These categories are the main sources of sodium and staples for Canadians. 

Most Canadians exceed sodium limits

The voluntary sodium reduction for 94 categories of processed foods is part of the 2016 Healthy Eating Strategy, which requires a front-of-package nutrition symbol to help consumers identify foods high in sodium, sugars, and saturated fat.

Health Canada warns the country is lagging on voluntary sodium reduction, with foods like pizza crust and tomato sauce having higher sodium than in 2017.Health Canada warns that most sodium comes from processed and commercially prepared foods. About six in ten Canadians consume too much sodium, with even more children, teens, and males across all age groups.

It finds that 25% of Canadians over 20 are diagnosed with high blood pressure, which leads to stroke and heart disease, which are the leading causes of death in the country after cancer.

Health Canada’s 2018 report found modest voluntary sodium reductions in processed foods, not meeting targets. It says that recent estimates find that the average daily sodium intake of Canadians is 2,760 mg.

“Of particular concern, 81% of children aged one to three years, 99% of children aged four to eight years, and over 95% of males between the ages of 14 and 30 are eating too much sodium,” says the department.

“A 30% relative reduction in intake would bring the average sodium intakes of Canadians to the intake goal of 2,300 mg per day.”

Call for mandatory targets 

A new study in BMC Public Health reveals that Health Canada’s sodium reduction targets have the potential to prevent 219,490 cases of coronary heart disease and 164,435 strokes.

A new study urges mandatory regulations, estimating stronger sodium policies could prevent over 380,000 heart disease and stroke cases and save CAD 4.2 billion in healthcare costs.This could result in 276,185 quality-adjusted life years (QALY) and healthcare cost savings of CAD 4,212 million (US$3 million) over the 2019 cohort.

The researchers argue that front-of-package labeling regulations could also prevent 35,930 cases of coronary heart disease and 124,744 strokes, resulting in QALY gains and healthcare cost savings.

“Our study sheds light on how far Canadians are from achieving these maximum benefits with current sodium reduction policy initiatives,” they add. 

“Unfortunately, progress evaluations have shown that compliance with the voluntary sodium reduction targets has been limited, with only 14% of food categories meeting the targets by 2017, indicating that to meet targets by 2025, faster progress is needed.”

Researchers point to other countries like South Africa that implemented mandatory sodium reduction targets, leading to a decrease of 1.15 g/day in salt intake (~460 mg/day sodium) over four years (2015–19).

They call for population initiatives like setting sodium reduction targets for restaurants, banning high-sodium food marketing, promoting low-sodium, potassium-enriched salt, and using social marketing to change behaviors. 

Advice to manufacturers 

Quality Smart Solutions says manufacturers face hurdles when reducing salt, as it affects flavor, texture, and shelf life. Reducing sodium by over 15–20% will change product quality and consumer acceptance.

Most Canadians still consume too much sodium, with nearly all children and young men exceeding recommended daily limits.Since salt is also a preservative, lowering it will require processing adjustments to keep it safe from microbial contamination, adds the organization. This may be why businesses delay or slow reformulations.

Andrew Parshad, president and CEO of Quality Smart Solutions, advises companies to Audit sodium levels by comparing per 100 g to the 2025 sales-weighted average and max targets to meet Health Canada’s sodium standards.

He suggests companies can gradually reduce sodium by 5–10% at a time to preserve taste and safety. By transparently displaying sodium reduction on packaging and marketing, they can explain the benefits to consumers.

Parshad advises seeking expert support by partnering with regulatory compliance specialists who can show formulation changes, testing protocols, and labeling requirements. 

Healthier futures

This March, the WHO introduced a guideline to reduce global salt intake, emphasizing that replacing table or sea salt with potassium salt is a safe and effective method.

Recent research adds nuance to sodium consumption. While nearly all US adults consume more sodium than recommended, the sources and ways this common ingredient is used vary significantly across different racial and ethnic groups.

In other government-industry partnerships, the UK is working with food companies to make healthy choices easier for consumers. The 10-Year Health Plan aims to reduce obesity and relieve pressure on the National Health Service by focusing on prevention rather than treatment, “because prevention is better than a cure.”