Abstract
As the catering sector has increasingly contributed to population-level salt intake, many countries have begun developing salt-reduction strategies for restaurants. This paper aims to provide an overview of global salt reduction policies in restaurants. Scientific papers and website materials were systematically searched from Web of Science, Science Direct, and PubMed, as well as official websites of government departments and organizations. A total of 78 full-text papers and grey literature works were included. From 58 countries and regions, 62 independent policies were identified, 27 of which were mandatory (3 with fines). The most common strategy was menu labeling, which was a component of 40 policies. Target setting (n = 23) and reformulation (n = 13) of dishes were also widely implemented. Other salt-reduction strategies included education campaign, chef training, toolkits delivery, table salt removal, media campaign, and government assistance such as free nutrition analysis and toolkits distribution. Most policies focused on chain restaurants. Evaluations of these policies were limited and showed inconsistent results, and more time is needed to demonstrate the clear long-term effects. Attention has been paid to salt reduction in restaurants around the world but is still at its early stage. The feasibility and effectiveness of the strategies need to be further explored.
Highlights
Excess salt intake has been proved to be a risk factor for non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as hypertension and cardiovascular disease worldwide [1]
This study aims to review the restaurant salt reduction policies administered at the national or regional level around the world in order to provide suggestions for effective salt reduction in the catering and restaurant sectors
Scientific papers referring to relevant policies were searched from Web of Science, Science Direct, and PubMed using keywords “restaurant”, “salt”, “sodium”, or “menu label(l)ing”
Summary
Excess salt intake has been proved to be a risk factor for non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as hypertension and cardiovascular disease worldwide [1]. Many countries have developed strategies to reduce population salt consumption since it is one of the most effective measures to reduce the burden of NCDs [2,3,4]. The World Health Organization set a goal of a 30% relative reduction in population intake of salt by 2025 and recommended that daily salt intake should be less than 5 g [5]. China has taken action to make a 20% reduction in per capita daily salt intake by 2030 [6]. It was estimated that processed foods contributed most to salt intake [7]. The salt-reduction strategies in these countries started from the food manufacturing industry and have made significant progress to date. Public Health 2020, 17, 9570; doi:10.3390/ijerph17249570 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph
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