Food Industry Response to FSA Salt Targets

FDF’s members are committed to working with FSA to continue reducing levels of salt in our products and providing lower salt options where technologically possible, safe and acceptable to consumers.

19/08/09 Responding to publication by the Food Standards Agency of revised salt targets for 2012, Julian Hunt, the Food and Drink Federation’s (FDF) Director of Communications, said:

“It’s great to see the Food Standards Agency (FSA) recognises that manufacturers have made considerable reductions in salt levels to date, and - as we have been saying for some time - that the UK is leading the world in this area.

“FDF’s members are committed to working with FSA to continue reducing levels of salt in our products and providing lower salt options where technologically possible, safe and acceptable to consumers. As always, food safety is industry’s first priority.

“We’ll work with our members to understand where the challenges are greatest and whether further investment will see sufficient progress in the timescale set by FSA. In some circumstances, further significant salt reductions will not be possible until new, innovative technologies, processing techniques and ingredient solutions are developed. We believe that targets are a relatively simplistic approach to driving progress and we’ve outlined to FSA where the particular challenges lie.

“FDF is also playing its part in enhancing communication to the consumer. Industry’s salt reduction efforts are underpinned by the widespread use of front-of-pack nutrition labels using Guideline Daily Amount information to educate consumers that they should aim to consume no more than 6g of salt a day.”