Hidden salt in high-street chain restaurant meals

Several public analyst laboratories recently analysed the salt content of 96 popular items on the menus of 16 popular high-street chain restaurants, as part of a survey commissioned by CASH*.

Published to mark the start of Salt Awareness Week 2009, the results of the analysis by the various labs have shown that nearly three-quarters of the main-course dishes sampled from a variety of the restaurants contained 3g of salt (the maximum daily recommended limit for children and half that for an adult). Desserts and starter dishes were included in the sampling and some contained high levels of hidden salt. Even if the "healthier" options were chosen from these menus, a child eating them would still have consumed its daily limit in that one meal.

* The media release, summarising the key findings of the survey, is available and was issued by CASH (Consensus Action on Salt and Health).