Health campaign group the Food Commission has slammed a number of manufacturers for using too much salt in their vegetarian sausages and burgers.
Research by the Consensus Action on Salt & Health (CASH) charity has revealed that some vegetarian sausages and burgers contain worryingly high levels of salt. The worst offender was South African processor Fry Group Foods’ Vegetarian Traditional sausage, which contained 2.8g salt, meaning a portion of two sausages accounted for 93% of the adult Guideline Daily Amount of salt intake.
UK giant Premier Foods’ Cauldron brand also featured in the damning report with four products in the report’s top ten saltiest vegetarian sausages list. Cauldron Vegetarian Lincolnshire sausages contained 2g salt, compared with two Asda Meat Free Lincolnshire Sausages that contained only 1.2g salt - a difference of 40% salt per two-sausage portion, claimed the study.
“It’s inexcusable!” said the Food Commission. “Every company should be seeking to reduce its food’s salt content in line with the Food Standards Agency’s (FSA’s) salt reduction campaign. These manufacturers need to cut the salt now.
“Obviously, processors do need to maintain a certain flavour profile, but gentle reductions are possible. Some companies are gradually changing, but looking at these results, some obviously have a long way to go.”
CASH chairman Graham MacGregor, who is a professor of cardiovascular medicine at St George’s Hospital Medical School in London, also voiced his concerns. “A lot of work has been done by the food industry to reduce the salt content of meat products such as sausages and burgers. The same should now be done by manufacturers of vegetarian products. They also need to provide clearer labelling of the salt content. Some products do have lower levels of salt, which begs the question as to why some have around the same salt content as Atlantic sea water?”
Premier claimed that all of its Cauldron products would meet the FSA targets by the 2010 due date. “While the CASH research shows that Cauldron sausages contain a little more salt than some meat sausages it fails to acknowledge that other meat sausages are considerably higher in salt and it also fails to address the role of fat, saturates, trans fats, cholesterol and calories,” claimed the firm. “Cauldron sausages are lower in all of these nutrients compared with their meat alternatives. The CASH research does not compare vegetarian sausages and burgers with their meat equivalents and yet it paints a picture of vegetarian products as generally higher in salt than meat products, which is not the case.”
The Vegetarian Society welcomed the report and claimed that it would bring the study to the attention of the companies involved. “People should be looking more carefully at labels, however clearer labelling across the board is needed,” said a spokeswoman.