Hold the salt, Aussies warned

If you think the food is salty Down Under, new data says you’re right. Studies have indicated that the average saltiness of processed foods in Australia has risen 9 per cent in the past four years. This has been happening despite the government’s priority campaign to reduce salt.
Processed foods are the main source of salt for the average Australian. Hence, the 9 per cent increase is also the increase in average population salt intake. It equates to almost 2,000 deaths and 4,000 strokes and heart attacks in Australia each year.
“When salt levels in processed foods go up so too does daily salt consumption,” explained Professor Bruce Neal from the The George Institute for Global Health. Speaking at Hypertension Sydney, the 24th Scientific Meeting of the International Society of Hypertension, he said, “With the best will in the world people can’t avoid it because we don’t have high salt warning labels on products.”
He added, “The problem here is that the primary goal of most of the food industry is to deliver a profit and maximise shareholder value, not provide a nutritious product range. It is often very hard for health to get a look in when dollars are on the table.
“Other large industries that produce commodities harmful to health have faced exactly the same challenge, requiring government intervention to prevent public health harms – including tobacco, asbestos and automobile manufacturers."
Data show that some companies are doing the right thing, but their good work is being offset by others that are making their product range saltier.
“If any other industry pushed its death toll up by 2,000 a year because it was making more unsafe products there would be national outrage,’’ he said. “With government and industry having identified salt as a problem the issue is how effective action can be achieved.
“The government has established the Food and Health Dialogue but progress has been slow. Few products have had targets set, there is no requirement for companies to participate, the timelines for delivering product improvement are very long and there is no objective third party reporting of progress.
“The Food and Health Dialogue needs urgent upgrading,” he said. This could include adapting overseas targets for salt levels in foods, setting objective milestones, regular reporting of progress, and planning for a regulatory framework if voluntary efforts are unsuccessful.
The information prepared by the Institute was based on the salt levels found in 28,000 processed foods sold in leading Australian supermarkets between 2008 and 2011. In that period, three separate bodies monitored the salt levels in foods - the National Heart Foundation of Australia, the Australian Division of World Action on Salt and Health (AWASH) and the Federal Government. The researchers noted that each program covered only a small part of the food supply and all were entirely voluntary.
In Australia, high blood pressure, alongside smoking, is the leading cause of premature death. It has been reported that excess dietary salt is pushing up the blood pressure levels of Australians from childhood.