Hidden dangers of salt in city takeaways revealed by probe

Published on Monday 9 February 2009 09:14

IT's the stock question at every Edinburgh chippy.

But a new probe into takeaway food in the Capital is aiming to highlight the hidden dangers of opting for salt with your sauce.

A single takeaway dish bought in the city can contain almost the maximum healthy daily salt intake of six grammes, research carried by the city council has shown.

The council's scientific services manager, Dr Andrew Mackie, found that one sample of beef in black bean sauce contained 5.7g of salt – almost the maximum 6g daily amount.

Another single portion tested, Cantonese sweet and sour chicken, had 3.6g of salt – more than half an adult's daily allowance

A range of takeaway dishes were tested, including examples from bakeries and sandwich shops, in an investigation into how much salt is hidden in ready-to-eat meals for sale across the city.

High salt intake is linked to high blood pressure, causing strokes and heart attacks. It is also recognised that a high salt diet can lead to osteoporosis, cancer of the stomach, obesity and exacerbating the symptoms of asthma.

Environment leader Councillor Robert Aldridge said the random tests were carried out to highlight Salt Awareness Week and the full results would be published in due course.

He said: "Personally, I did find it surprising there was so much salt in the black bean sauce. I think it is going to be fascinating to find out how much salt is in the different types of takeaway food.

"I find it really useful for the people who manage these takeaways to think about their salt content and the public should also be aware that if they are eating takeaways that there may be a lot of salt."

Edinburgh chef Tony Singh promotes healthy and hearty eating and says the only way to avoid excessive salt consumption is to get back to old-fashioned, wholesome meals.

Mr Singh said: "The body does need salt to survive and small amounts are used in cooking.

"The problems start when large levels of salt are used to preserve or flavour processed foods – that can lead to high blood pressure."

While pre-prepared meals from supermarkets contain nutritional information including salt levels, that information is not available in takeaways or in restaurants. Consensus Action on Salt and Health (CASH), which ran Salt Awareness Week, has also published research that showed food from some high street restaurant chains can contain large amounts of salt – in some cases more than twice the daily maximum limit for an adult in a single meal.

Carrie Bolt, CASH nutritionist, said: "More and more of us are enjoying food outside the home on a regular basis. Our worry is that people eating some of the higher salt meals we found will have no way of knowing how much salt is in their meal or that they have exceeded their daily salt limit.

"I think that people will be as shocked as I am at the levels of hidden salt in some of our favourite restaurant meals."