While food prices topped the list of consumer concerns (59%), the survey found that 47% were worried about salt levels in food, with women (51%) and respondents aged 50–65 (57%) more concerned than men and all other age groups.
The respondents were also more concerned about the amount of salt in their food than about the amount of fat (43%), sugar (43%), saturated fat (41%) in food, hygiene when eating out (40%) and food poisoning such as salmonella and E.coli (30%).
Public are concerned
Kawther Hashem, a nutritionist with the lobby group Consensus Action on Salt & Health (CASH), said: “Despite manufacturers telling us their customers don’t want less salt, we are glad to see that the public are actually concerned about the amount of salt in food.
“The government and the food industry must address this concern by continuing to reduce the amount of salt in food.”
Despite the failure of the food and drink industry to meet the 2012 salt reduction targets as part of the Public Health Responsibility Deal (PHRD), CASH has called for even tougher targets to be set in future.
“The setting of further targets is essential for public health in the UK, to get our salt intakes down below 6g a day, so it is unfortunate that some of the 2012 targets have been such a challenge for the food industry,” said Katharine Jenner, CASH campaign director.
Many very high salt products
CASH argued that there were still many very high salt products in the ham and other cured meats category, in which the industry had failed to hit its salt reduction targets. She accused the industry of using food safety “as an excuse not to remove any salt”. Jenner said this area would be a focus of CASH’s campaigning efforts in the future.
“We hope that tougher targets will concentrate the food industry’s efforts to find solutions that work for them and their customers,” said Jenner.
Food Manufacture is organising a one-day Food Safety Conference on October 17 at the National Motorcycle Museum in Solihull titled: ‘What have we learnt from recent crises?’ Taking part in the conference – to be chaired by Professor Colin Dennis – will be representatives from the FSA, Unilever, consumer watchdog Which? Leatherhead Food Research and others. More details about the conference and the early bird discounted ticket price office are available here.