WAYS TO REDUCE SALT IN OUR FOOD
THE Consumers Association of Penang recently highlighted the issue of high sodium content in papadom (“Papadom dangerously overloaded with sodium” — (NST, Oct 9).
The Health Ministry is implementing the “Salt Reduction Strategy to Prevent and Control NCD (non-communicable diseases), 2015-2020” policy. The aim is to reduce 8.7g of mean salt intake (baseline data among healthcare staff in 2012) to 6g in 2025.
The Monitoring, Awareness and Product strategies outlined in the policy are implemented in collaboration with organisations and stakeholders, including nongovernmental organisations and food industries.
To monitor salt intake, a study involving the Health Ministry staff was carried out in 2015. It showed that the mean salt intake was 7.15g, which is above the World Health Organisation’s recommendation of 5g per day.
The database on salt content in products is available at http:// myfcd.moh. gov.my.
To address the issue, awareness programmes and activities are held like World Salt Awareness Week, specific tools are developed to reduce salt intake and intervention programmes are introduced to improve “Knowledge, Attitude and Practices” towards dietary salt intake among ministry staff and the public.
These tools are accessible at http://www.moh.gov.my/index.php/pages/ view/1937.
Efforts to engage the food industries to set targets for product reformulation to reduce salt content are ongoing, targeting products which are listed as main contributors to high salt intake.
Based on the 2015 MySalt study, the main food groups that contributed to high salt intake were cooked grains-based food such as fried rice, mee, nasi lemak and roti canai, followed by sauces and seasonings, cooked meat and products, fish/seafood and products, as well as fast foods, other cooked foods, eggs, snacks, kuih-muih, canned foods and spreads.
Papadom is considered a snack, or keropok.
While snack is listed as one of the food groups that contributed to high salt intake, all the food groups mentioned here should be the main focus for the reduction of salt. This should be the priority area for action.
Instead of using processed sauces and seasonings to add flavour to food, we should use natural seasonings like herbs and spices in cooking so that the amount of salt can be reduced.
Working with the food industries to reduce the salt content of sauces and seasonings, and of processed foods with high salt content by way of reformulation, is the most effective way to reduce salt content in foods.
Conducting awareness programmes on salt reduction for food handlers or restaurant operators on how to prepare low sodium food would be a better way.
Collaboration with restaurants and food associations is a must with the hope that they will be empowered to provide healthier food, thus reducing the incidence of hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, stroke and other diseases that lead to premature death.