Food manufacturers can and should reduce salt levels | Eat

Rachel Dixon’s article on salt (The Truth About Salt: How to Avoid One of the World’s Biggest Hidden Killers, November 24) points out that our taste buds can adjust to less salt, but only if we gradually wean ourselves off it . It is difficult for processed food manufacturers to help people because most consumers have a strong preference for well-salted products. Even small reductions in salt content in the recipe are immediately recognized and people often respond by switching to competing products that have stuck with the higher salt content.

To break this cycle, manufacturers must act together. It’s doable. And it’s done. In 2001, John Krebs, then chairman of the Food Standards Agency, asked me if I would lead an industry initiative to achieve significant reductions in the categories in which my company Unilever competed: categories such as soups, meal sauces, condiments, mayonnaise. The only way for me to make progress was to ask the CEOs of competing companies directly if they would be willing to participate in a process where we would all reduce the salt content in our recipes by undetectable amounts over a period of time would reduce. We have jointly decided to make cuts of 10% per year for three consecutive years, aiming for an overall reduction of more than 25% without consumers noticing.

Our food scientists and nutritionists worked together enthusiastically and the goal was achieved. The success encouraged other sectors, particularly bread and breakfast cereals, to follow suit, and these various initiatives contributed to the huge progress made between 2003 and 2011 and the resulting 15% reduction in the population’s salt consumption. The health benefits were obvious and measurable. This process is repeatable.
Gavin Neath
Twickenham, London