Salt content in pre-packaged foods available in Portuguese market

Abstract

Salt intake above World Health Organization (WHO) recommendation level (5 g/day) is associated with harmful health effects such as an increased risk to hypertension and cardiovascular diseases, which are the principal cause of death worldwide. Public health strategies to meet WHO targets include monitoring salt content in food, improvement of food labelling and reformulation of products. This study aimed to collect data about labelled salt content of pre-packaged food products available in stores and in the websites of three supermarkets in Porto (Portugal), and also to compare the labelled salt content of products available in store and online. Products were collected in store and website of three main distributing food chains available in Portugal. Median salt content in food categories was: Rice 0.70 g/100 g (n = 27), Potato and potato-products 1.00 g/100 g (n = 196), Pasta 0.88 g/100 g (n = 108), Bread and bread products 1.10 g/100 g (n = 437), Vegetables and legumes 1.10 g/100 g (n = 375), Vegetarian 1.16 g/100 g (n = 182), Eggs 0.30 g/100 g (n = 31), Sauces 1.70 g/100 g (n = 479), Soups 0.70 g/100 g (n = 122), Ready-To-Eat meals 1.10 g/100 g (n = 508), Sausages and charcuterie 2.20 g/100 g (n = 848), Meat and meat products 1.30 g/100 g (n = 273), Fish and fish products 1.00 g/100 g (n = 406), Seafood and shellfish 1.20 g/100 g (n = 92). The prevalence of products with website label equal to store was higher than the prevalence of products that had different information (between 64.8% in Shellfish and seafood and 93.3% in Eggs).The median salt content for every food category analysed was above the recommended range by public health strategies, and there were significant differences between salt content in website and store labels (for Pasta, Vegetables and Fish products). There is a need to reformulate and reduce salt content of available food products/meals as well as a need to assure that clear and accurate label information is provided to consumers about the salt content of the products.