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Action on Salt

Chef Survey

11th March 2013

CUSTOMERS FIND MEALS ‘TOO SALTY’, SALT PUTS THEIR HEALTH AT RISK

  • Out of nearly 700 main meals surveyed, over 50% were HIGH in salt
  • 13 meals surveyed had more than 6g of salt per meal – the maximum recommendation for a WHOLE DAY
  • Jamie’s Italian had the highest salt dish of the celebrity chef restaurants surveyed*, containing nearly one and a half times the daily maximum recommendation for salt
  • Heston’s ‘Dinner’ shown to be the best restaurant, with all meals surveyed containing less than 1.5g salt
  • 54% of people surveyed find restaurant meals too salty, 70% of people surveyed think chefs should be responsible for helping them to eat less salt

For full Restaurant report: Restaurant food survey - By Sector [PDF 592KB]

For media coverage: Chef and Restaurant Survey Media coverage

*Please see ‘Statement from CASH on Jamie Oliver’ click here

For the first time, research by Consensus Action on Salt and Health [CASH] reveals the shockingly high levels of salt in food purchased in restaurants up and down the country for National Salt Awareness Week 2013 [11th – 17th March].  The survey looked at 664 main meals from 29 popular high street and celebrity restaurants, fast food and cafes chains [1].  The survey found that 347 meals had more than 2.4g of salt per portion – that’s 52% of all meals surveyed that would be labelled in a supermarket with a red traffic light [2].

Celebrity chef restaurants and high street chain restaurants both came out higher than cafes and fast food chains, partly due to larger portion sizes, with an average of 3.1g salt per meal, half a person’s daily recommended amount of salt. Shockingly, the thirteen saltiest main meals in the survey contained more than your entire 6g maximum recommended daily allowance of salt.

Five of the top saltiest main meals [portion size stated where known]:

1. JD Wetherspoons’ [10oz gammon with eggs, chips, peas, tomato & flat mushroom] = 8.9g salt per portion
2. Jamie’s Italian [game meatball] = 8.1g salt per 570g portion
3. Carluccio’s [spaghetti alle vongole in bianco] = 8.0g
4. Gordon Ramsay’s The Savoy Grill’s [steamed mussels cider cream sauce and fries] = 7.3g salt per 510g portion
5. Wagamama’s Yaki Udon = 7.0g salt per 620g portion

A selection of main meals from six celebrity chef restaurants were analysed for their salt content [Brasserie Blanc (By Raymond Blanc), Dinner (By Heston Blumenthal), Frankies (By Marco Pierre White), Jamie's Italian (By Jamie Oliver), Fifteen (By Jamie Oliver), Savoy Grill (By Gordon Ramsay)] [3].  Out of the small sample of celebrity chef restaurant meals tested, on average Jamie’s Italian had the highest level of salt in their 3 dishes tested, whilst Heston’s Dinner was shown to have the lowest values of salt, all below 1.5g of salt per dish.  


“We have lifted the lid on chef’s cooking and found they are still hooked on the white stuff.” says Campaign Director and Nutritionist for CASH, Katharine Jenner. “We are all eating too much salt; if you want to cut down at home you can do; by reading the labels, using less salt in cooking and using less processed food.  However it’s not so easy when you are grabbing lunch on the go or out for a nice evening meal.  As most of the salt we eat is hidden in our food, for National Salt Awareness Week, CASH, with the support of 11 national health charities [4], we are asking the public to stand up to chefs and ask for ‘less salt please!’”.

Alongside the food analysis, public research undertaken for Salt Awareness Week found that more than half (54%) of people find restaurant meals too salty, and 9 out of 10 people believe that restaurants and cafes should let them choose if they want to add salt to their meal or not [5].

Celebrity Chefs Antony Worrall Thompson, Jamie Oliver and Raymond Blanc have already committed to reduce salt levels, Raymond Blanc comments; "I believe that good food does not need more than the very lightest of seasoning - there is no reason for good chefs to mask the flavour of their ingredients by adding too much salt. Remember herby, sour, bitter and acid are also wonderful catalysts of flavour. I fully support CASH and their Salt Awareness Week. Let's all eat better by going easy on the salt."

The café chains such as Costa and Pret a Manger appear to have made some progress, and are at least now provide labelling online so customers can plan their meals ahead.   Of the fast foods analysed (McDonalds, Burger King, KFC, Subway, Pizza Hut and Dominos) Pizza Hut was shown to be the worst (93% of dishes analysed had over 2.4g of salt, however portion sizes were generally larger) and Subway came out on top with less than 1 in 5 meals getting a red traffic light label for salt.

Fast Food outlets – number of dishes containing over 2.4g of salt per portion

1. Pizza Hut = 93%
2. Domino’s Pizza = 79%
3. Burger King = 64%
4. KFC = 60%
5. McDonald’s = 26%
6. Subway = 18%

National Salt Awareness Week 2013 is encouraging everyone to eat less salt and to enjoy the real flavour of food.  Even with great progress being made in the retail sector, we are still eating too much salt, with a population average intake of 8.1 grams per day [6], much more than the maximum daily recommendation of 6g per day [about a teaspoon]. The Department of Health estimates that reducing salt intakes by just 1g - a pinch of salt - would save 4,147 preventable deaths and £288 million to the NHS every year [7].  A high salt diet is also linked to a number of other serious health conditions such as stomach cancer, osteoporosis and kidney disease.

“It’s a national scandal that there is still so much salt in our food.”  Graham MacGregor, Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine at The Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine, Queen Mary University and Chairman of CASH comments: “Salt puts up our blood pressure, and as a result, thousands of people die unnecessarily each year from strokes, heart attacks and heart failure. Whilst efforts have been made by foods in supermarkets to use less salt, chefs’ preference for saltier foods is preventing further progress. It’s clear from our survey that some chefs are not listening to their customers.   These chefs need to get their act together and stop shovelling salt in our food”

Tracy Parker, Dietitian at the British Heart Foundation, said; “We’re all eating too much salt and with one in six meals being eaten out of the home, it’s important to keep an eye on our salt intake all the time. It’s vital restaurants provide clear menu labelling showing us how much salt is our dinner but chefs should ideally be cutting back on the salt they use and giving the diner the choice. Until then, using information on restaurants’ websites before you go out can help you eat more healthily when eating out.

The Department of Health has stated that, whilst great efforts to use less salt have been made by retailers and manufacturers who have signed up to the Department of Health’s salt reduction pledge, chefs’ preference for saltier foods and a culture which places a strong emphasis on salt as a flavour is preventing further progress.

Public Health Minister, Anna Soubry MP
said “Too much salt is bad for our health and can lead to conditions such as heart disease and stroke which is why through the Responsibility Deal, we are working with companies to reduce the amount of salt in their foods. We have already seen reduction in salt levels in everyday foods such as bread, cereals and sauces but more needs to be done.

“We will soon be announcing our updated salt strategy, including a review of Responsibility Deal salt targets, where we'll start with a focus on getting more in the catering sector to take action and reduce salt in their foods."

-END-

Notes to Editor
Go to www.actiononsalt.org.uk for more information or contact:
CASH - Katharine Jenner on: 020 7882 6018 or 07740 553298,  k.jenner@qmul.ac.uk
CASH - Professor Graham MacGregor on: 07946 405617, g.macgregor@qmul.ac.uk
• National PR - Gillian Breen on: 0207 242 2844 / 07815125675 gillian@taste-pr.com
• National PR - Jessica Filbey on: 0207 242 2844 / 07967215644 jessicaf@taste-pr.com
• Regional PR - Sam Crown on: 0 20 7253 8888 / 0 7867 808 696 Sam.Crown@Markettiers4dc.com

Follow us on twitter at http://twitter.com/cashsalt.  We will be tweeting all week at #LessSaltPlease

Survey Details/References

1 - Survey details, full data tables are available with this release
The survey looked at 667 main meals from 29 restaurants [chain and celebrity restaurants], fast food outlets and cafes.  
NB. Portion sizes differ widely between meals.  Meals from cafés and fast food outlets often did not include side dishes, so the salt value of a complete main meal may be different.

• Chain restaurants: CASH collected information online, in-store or direct from company [January-March 2013].   Salt content information for Pizza Express, GBK, Strada and Café Rouge were not available online or at request and were analysed by a Public Analyst [see below - January 2013]
• Celebrity restaurants: Meals were analysed by a Public Analyst on [see below - January 2013]
• Fast Food outlets: CASH collected information online and in-store [January-March 2013]
• Cafes: CASH collected information online, in-store or direct from company[January-March 2013]

Pizza Hut gave portion values as ‘1 slice’ which is unrealistic, a portion was calculated as a whole ‘personal pizza’ to be comparable to Dominos, Strada and Pizza Express.

2 – Traffic Light Labelling
Colour coding based on Traffic Light Criteria. Red 2.40g/portion/>1.5g/100g, Amber >0.30-<1.50/100g, Green <= 0.30g/100g

3 – Food Analysis by a Public Analyst

W/c 14th January 2013 CASH staff visited 10 restaurants, three main meals were randomly selected from each, ordered and paid for from each restaurant and taken away for nutritional analysis.   In ‘celebrity chef’ restaurants we chose main meals from the set lunch menus where available to reflect meals that are most affordable to the general public. The meals were then taken away in containers and delivered to Public Analysts, who analysed the salt (sodium) content of the meals (total and by 100g). The results from the Public Analysts are available on request.

CASH recognise that this is a small sample and there is huge variation in restaurant cooking practices of different chefs; however this is an accurate reflection of three meals that three random people would have consumed had they eaten at that restaurant on that day.

Meals were analysed at Kent Scientific Services by Public Analyst Jon Griffin, 8 Abbey Wood Road, Kings Hill. Kent. ME 194YT

4- National Charity supporters
Alzheimer's Society, British Heart Foundation, National Osteoporosis Society, National Obesity Forum, The Stroke Association, Men's Health Forum, Kidney Research UK, Meniere's Society, Diabetes UK, National Heart Forum, Cancer Research UK, Blood Pressure UK.  Click here for a full list of supporters 

5 - Public Opinion survey: - Full regional breakdown available on request
The research for CASH was carried out online by Opinion Matters between 22 / 02 / 2013 and 26 / 02 / 2013 amongst a panel resulting in 1,137 respondents. All research conducted adheres to the MRS Codes of Conduct (2010) in the UK and ICC/ESOMAR World Research Guidelines. Opinion Matters is registered with the Information Commissioner's Office and is fully compliant with the Data Protection Act (1998).

6 – National Salt Awareness Week (11th-17th March 2013)
The 14th National Salt Awareness Week will be held Monday 11th – Sunday 17th March 2013. CASH will be asking for ‘Less Salt Please’, showing how everybody, including chefs, can use less salt

7 – Department of Health statistics - Click here

11th March 2013

 TV 

  • Daybreak
  • Sky Sunrise

Radio 

  • Sky News Radio 
  • Sun Online 
  • BBC Radio Tees
  • BBC Kent 
  • Patient Talk 
  • SFM Radio  

National Newspapers 

The Times 'Jamie feels the heat over salt in his Italian Meatballs' page 1 and 5 
The Sun 'Salt in sarine same as 9 bags of crisps - Health Blitz on high St chains' page 10

Online 

Mail Online - 'Celebrity chefs including Jamie Oliver and Gordon Ramsay accused of serving too much salt in their restaurant dishes' 
BBC News - 'Hidden Salt present in popular restaurant meals' 
Mail Online - 'Salt-filled sandwiches! Lunches from High Street chains have same amount as ten packets of crisps'
The Sun - 'Salt in Pret sarine same as 9 bags of crisps - Health Blitz on high St chains'
Yahoo! News - 'Hypnotension responds to new survey that exposes hidden salt in restaurant meals'
Food manufacture - 'Public Health Responsibility Deal to target caterers'  
PR Web - Hypnotension responds to new survey that exposes hidden salt in restaurant meals 
The Sun -  'Whoppin' Whopper salt rise' 
BigHospitality - 'Dinner by Heston Blumenthal congratulated for low levels of hidden salt'
Channel 4 News - 'Taking it with a pinch of salt' 
The Guardian - 'Health drive seeks to cut Britons' daily salt intake by a quarter'
Digest Magazine - 'Worth your salt?' 
Eastbourne Herald
Leek News
New Age Bangladesh
The Times Online
Mail Online UK
Yahoo! News
Ichainnel
Nanny Knows Best (blog)
Netdoctor.co.uk
Perspicacious.co.uk
PR Web
PRWeb UK
This is Gloucestershire
4NI
Antrim Times
Ballymena Today
Eastbourne Herald
Film & Video
Jobs Nation
Nutrition Horizon
The Green Parent (blog)
Scottish Sun Online
Guardian.co.uk
Best Medical Cover BootsWebMD
Business Insider (Blog)
Cambridge News
Channel 4 News
Health Canal
Healthcare Today
Healthcare.co.uk
The New Age Online
Yahoo! Xtra Business
Ashbourne News Telegraph
Burton Mail
Leek News
MSN Canada
Staffordshire Newsletter
AGI.it
The Sydney News
TopNews United States
Bootle Champion
Borneo Online
Guyana Chronicle Online
Huffington Post UK (Blog)
New Straits Times
Daily News South Africa
SourceWire
Digital Journal
PRWeb
PRWeb UK
Yahoo! News
NICE
PR-Canada.net
Pr-USA.net
Malaysia Chronicle
Malaysian Digest
My Sinchew
Now Public
Staffordshire Life
Huffington Post UK (Blog)

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