Council To Make Salt Survey of Edinburgh Takeaways

Submitted by edg on Mon, 2 Feb '09 10.21am

The City of Edinburgh Council will be looking at how much salt could be hidden in ready-to-eat meals to mark national Salt Awareness Week running from today to 8 February.

In the survey of around 20 randomly selected food takeaways, Community Safety staff will sample dishes to check on salt levels and ensure food businesses are aware of the recommended safe daily amounts.

National health guidelines state that adults and children aged 11 and over should consume no more than 6g of salt per day, while very young children (aged 1 to 3) should be eating no more than 2g per day. The Food Standards Agency has a target to reduce the salt intake of the UK population to 6g per person, per day by 2010.

The Council is also keen to promote salt awareness in staff canteens in a bid to win a silver Healthy Working Lives Award, having already won the Bronze award.

"Too much salt in our diets is dangerous for our health - it can cause high blood pressure and triple our risk of heart disease and stroke," warned Councillor Robert Aldridge, Environment Leader.

Salt Awareness Week is being run by Consensus Action on Salt and Health (CASH) from today to 8 February.