Cape Town - Food manufacturers say they are well on their way to meeting the Department of Health’s new salt laws, which are set to be implemented in 2016.
However, some have raised concerns about consumer buy-in.
The Department of Health wants to see a reduction in the amount of sodium (the harmful ingredient in salt) in foods and the legislation will make it compulsory for all manufacturers to meet this requirement.
Lulu Khumalo, of Pioneer Foods, said her company recognised the importance of sodium reduction and its contribution to health targets.
“Development is well progressed to deliver on the required 2016 deadline,” said Khumalo. “In the case of bread it is foreseen that additional investments will be required in processing equipment, given that salt in bread is also an ingredient that aids processing. It is not just added to enhance or complement the taste profile of the product,” she said.
When asked if Pioneer Foods was concerned that the new salt laws would affect business it said “consumer acceptance” was still untested.
Anchen Myberg, head of marketing at Bokomo Foods, said the company had already started a programme to use less salt in its products.
“We don’t use large volumes of salt and we should be able to meet the targets in the next two or three years. We support it (the new legislation) fully and will drive it accordingly.”
Many normal supermarket products exceed the internationally recognised guidelines for salt levels.
However, according to experts, this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to salt intake.
“South Africans have an extremely high rate of discretionary salt use; research shows that about 40 percent of salt intake comes from individuals adding the salt themselves,” said dietician Jae Braun.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends that adults should consume no more than 5g (one teaspoon) of salt per day. According to Braun, research suggests the average daily consumption in South Africa is between 8.5g to 40g per day.
She said the country had been praised internationally for “taking such concrete steps in reducing salt intake”.
“Mandatory salt reduction at production level is the first step, however discretionary salt use is still extremely high, and may potentially increase if people feel that salt reduction at the production level has affected the flavour of the foods,” said Braun.
A high salt diet is known to have connections with hypertension, which can lead to cardiovascular disease.
Melvyn Freeman, cluster manager: non-communicable diseases at the Department of Health, said: “We have been receiving numerous queries from the industry about the regulations which suggests that they are in the process of making changes,” he said.
“Some of the industry would probably have preferred to have voluntary rather than regulatory targets.
“This would have, firstly, left the playing field between the competitors uneven and, secondly, there would have been no way for the Department of Health to enforce the targets.”
He said they planned to launch several awareness campaigns.
According to a study published last month in SA Cardiology and Stroke, decreasing the salt content in six foods (mainly in bread) could lead to a reduced salt intake of .85g a day. This could save the national Health Department R300 million annually in direct hospital costs. Lower intake could also result in 7 400 fewer deaths, as well as 4 300 fewer non-fatal strokes per year. - Cape Times