Salt warning over packed sandwiches
Thursday, 05 Jul 2007 11:23
Some sandwiches contain as much salt as seven packets of crisps
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Readymade sandwiches on sale to the public contain as much salt as seven packets of crisps, a new survey has found.
In a study of 140 sandwiches carried out for the BBC by Consensus Action on Salt and Health (Cash), 41 per cent contained over two grams of salt, compared to an adult recommended daily allowance of six grams.
According to Cash, Asda's Extra Special Yorkshire Ham and Hawes Wensleydale sandwich was found to contain the most salt (3.9g of salt per serving), closely followed by Pret a Manger's All Day Breakfast sandwich and Tesco's Finest version of the same fillings.
A standard bag of Walkers Ready Salted crisps contains 0.5g of salt per bag, which is about a seventh the amount of most of the saltiest sandwiches.
"In the UK, we buy almost 1.7 billion sandwiches a year, spending around £2.8 billion," Carrie Bolt, Cash project assistant, who carried out the survey, said.
"We have calculated that the UK population consumes around 3,000 tonnes of salt each year, just from packaged sandwiches. Many of us buy a sandwich for our lunch most days of the week, but we need to know how much salt is in those sandwiches.
"Choosing a high-salt version may take us over the daily limit of salt and could affect our long-term health."
According to the survey, the average salt content for a sandwich is 1.9g, with the least salty being Co-op's Healthy Living tuna and cucumber and Tesco's Healthy Living chicken salad with 0.6g of salt per serving.
"If someone who eats a shop-bought sandwich every day of the working week chooses a lower-salt option, they could save themselves at least five grams of salt a week – that's 250g of salt a year," Ms Bolt added.
Commenting on the fact that his company's sandwich was the third most salty, Pret a Manger's commercial director Simon Hargraves said the all-day breakfast version was a "very, very naughty sandwich but it's a bit of a treat".
"I don't think you can approach a sandwich like all-day breakfast which is full of sausages and bacon with any view that it's going to be healthy for you," he told the BBC.
"It is going to be a lot of fun and very delicious, but not something you should have every day."
Eating too much salt can lead to high blood pressure and increases the risk of suffering strokes and heart attacks. The Stroke Association has called for more to be done to cut the amount of salt in the average person's diet.
Dr Isabel Lee, the association's research liaison officer, said: "Consumers must be allowed to make an informed choice on what they eat.
"A mandatory and consistent food labelling system by manufacturers is the only way to provide consumers with this information, allowing them to make like-for-like comparisons."