Experts welcome salt cut

Addressing parliament earlier this week, Motsoaledi unveiled plans to introduce laws that would limit salt amounts in food.

"I am going to ask you in this parliament very, very soon to process legislation to reduce the salt content of our foodstuffs," he said.

"The South African diet has been shown to be very high in salt. The desired amount of salt for your body is known to be 4g to 6g per day."

South Africans often consume d up to 9.8g of salt a day, he said.

While Pick n Pay is concerned about whether its food would be as tasty, it decided to limit salt content.

Peter Arnold, the retailer's acting merchandise director, said: "We agree that high blood pressure contributes to the burden of cardiovascular disease in South Africa and for this reason we are encouraged to implement salt reduction to lower blood pressure.

"One criterion is to reduce sodium levels as far as possible to where the savoury taste profile is still acceptable to consumers," he said.

Pick n Pay products undergo tasting by in-house panels several times before being sent to outside laboratories for additional tests .

Dietician Nicola de Wet was happy about Motsoaledi's plans.

"Salt is known to increase blood pressure and this is a very common chronic illness, especially in South Africa where there is growing obesity," she said.

"Where salt goes, water follows; if you take in a lot of salt, your body will hold back a lot of fluid and that, in turn, increases your blood pressure."

She said the law could make life difficult for food retailers.

"The problem with the food manufacturing industry is it needs to find an alternative. People don't buy things if they don't taste good," she said.

Professor Melvyn Freeman, the Health Department's head of non-communicable diseases, said it was unclear what form Motsoaledi's plan would take, but its main goal would be to enhance people's health.

"The legislation would be crafted so that it will have a significant impact on health. Most salt intake around the world is in food rather than discretionary. What you add to your food is only a small proportion of the salt that you consume each day," Freeman said.

One of the main targets of the legislation would be bread, which has a high salt content.

"If we reduce this, without even unduly influencing taste or the baking process, we believe we can save up to 6500 lives a year," Freeman said.

Source: The Times