Salt Awareness Week House of Commons reception
On the 31 st January a lunchtime reception was held at the House of Commons, between 12.15 and 2pm. There were around 100 guests including representatives from retailers, food manufacturers, caterers, charities, MPs, Department of Health (DH), the Food Standards Agency (FSA), media and other stakeholders.
To watch the speeches please click on this link
Presentations
Mary Creagh , MP for Wakefield , Denby Dale and Kirkburton and sponsor of the event introduced the speakers:
Professor Graham MacGregor, Chairman of CASH
Ms Caroline Flint, Minister of State for Public Health
Dame Deirdre Hutton, Chairman of the Food Standards Agency (FSA)
Ms Jillian Pitt, Senior Policy Officer, National Consumer Council
Mrs Mary Creagh
Before introducing all speakers, Mrs Creagh opened the event by commenting that we all are waking up to dangers and risks associated with excessive salt consumption. Mrs Creagh highlighted that salt is a major factor in high blood pressure and high blood pressure is the main cause of strokes and heart attacks. In addition, Mrs Creagh highlighted that salt has other adverse effects on health such as osteoporosis, asthma, and links with stomach cancer.
Mary highlighted one of the reasons she introduced the Children's Food Bill to parliament in 2005 was because of products like Mr Greedy Mini Hot Dogs in Gravy produced by Ye Olde Oak which contained over 2.5g salt more than the average recommended daily intake for a 3-5 year old, the target consumer for this type of product. After Mary highlighted this product at the Labour party conference, Mr Greedy disappeared off the tin and the salt was reduced dramatically. Mrs Creagh highlighted many responsible food companies are making genuine and significant reductions in the amount of salt that they are using and paid tribute to CASH for making this happen, but reminded the room that it is also down to people power and the market responding to what the consumer wants.
Mrs Creagh thanked everybody who supported Salt Awareness Week: The Co-operative Group; McCain ; M&S; Tesco; Heinz; Bird's Eye; New Covent Garden Food Co and Walkers for their unrestricted grants that they provided towards the Week.