The Food Standards Agency is publishing voluntary salt reduction targets for food manufacturers and retailers to further encourage a reduction in the amount of salt in a wide range of processed foods.

Eating too much salt is a significant risk factor in developing high blood pressure. And high blood pressure can triple the risk of heart disease and stroke. It also causes or contributes to more than 170,000 deaths a year in England.

The new salt reduction targets will help progression towards the Agency target of bringing down the average UK salt intake to 6g a day. In the UK, at least 26 million people are eating too much salt and processed foods contribute about 75% of the salt in our diets.

The salt targets have been set at challenging levels that will have a real impact on consumers' intakes, while also taking into account food safety and technical issues.

The reduction targets apply to salt levels in the 85 food categories that contribute most to the amount of salt in our diet. These include everyday foods such as bread, bacon, ham, breakfast cereals and cheese, and convenience foods such as pizza, ready meals, savoury snacks, cakes and pastries. Details of the targets are attached below.

The Agency is encouraged by the steady progress on voluntary salt reductions by the industry to date, for example:

-- Major retailers, including ASDA, Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury's, Tesco and Waitrose have made good progress with salt reduction across a wide range of products.

-- The Association of Cereal Food Manufacturers has reduced the levels of salt in breakfast cereals by 33% since 1998.

-- The Federation of Bakers has cut the amount in bread by up to 30%.

-- Kraft has lowered the salt in its cheese spreads and snack products by around a third.

-- Members of the Food and Drink Federation have sought to reduce the salt in soups and sauces by 30%.

Gill Fine, Director of Consumer Choice and Dietary Health, said: 'Many consumers want to reduce their salt intakes to improve their health. To help make it easier for them we need manufacturers and retailers to continue their efforts to reduce the amount of salt they add to foods.

'We are pleased with the work that many parts of the industry have done to enable us all to reduce our salt intake. The guidelines we are launching today are the next step in the programme of salt reductions.

'Although challenging, we believe the salt levels set out represent a realistic rate of reduction, which will have a real impact on consumers' intakes. We will review the targets in 2008, to ensure that progress continues to be made towards achieving the 6g maximum recommended salt intake.'

The Agency has received further commitments to long-term salt reduction programmes from a wide range of organisations across all sectors of the food industry and continues to support further research into new approaches to reducing salt levels in foods. Some organisations have already committed to going further and faster than the reduction targets.

Since the start of the Agency's salt awareness campaign in September 2004, 20 million more adults say they are cutting down on salt according to the Agency's Tracking Research, while over half of all consumers in our Consumer Attitudes Survey say they are now checking food labels for salt.

Most people who are cutting back on salt say they have reduced the amount of salt they add to their food at the table or when cooking and sales of household salt have already dropped by 10% in a year.

Research published by Mintel in September 2005 shows that increasingly people are turning to black pepper, herbs and spices, instead of salt, to add flavour to their food.

The Agency is currently developing the next phase of its salt awareness campaign.

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