CASH Comment on Coventry University’s Celebrity Chef Recipe Survey: ‘Celebrity chef recipe study highlights healthy eating concerns’
Katharine Jenner, Campaign Director for Consensus Action on Salt and Health (CASH) says:
“It is very concerning that these recipes contain so much hidden salt, with many providing more than your maximum recommended level of salt for a day in just one meal (6g). Also, most celebrity chefs such as Jamie Oliver, Nigella Lawson and James Martin regularly suggest we add a ‘pinch of salt’, ‘salt to taste’ or ‘season with salt’ in their recipes, which was not measured in this study. A ‘pinch’ is about a gram of salt, and a teaspoon is about 6g salt – so it quickly adds up when you follow recipes to the letter.
“If nutritional information isn’t provided with the recipes, as it is in the supermarkets, how can we know how much salt, fat and sugar we are eating? Jamie Oliver is leading the way in providing nutritional information in his new cookbook, but even he doesn’t tell his readers how much salt is used in his recipes.
“Home cooking can be a fantastic way to eat healthily, but recipes with salty and fatty ingredients could leave you no better off than if you cooked a supermarket ready meal. However even if you just don’t ‘add salt to taste’ you could reduce your salt intake and have a positive effect on your health.”
For more information Coventry Celebrity Chefs 24.04.13 [PDF 315KB]
