Chinese meals ‘so salty they should have a health warning’

CHINESE takeaways and ready meals are so salty they should come with a health warning, say campaigners.

Action on Salt found that a typical Chinese takeaway meal contained more than 6g of salt – the maximum recommended for an adult for an entire day.

The group analysed meals from six restaurants in London’s Chinatown. It found beef in black bean sauce from one outlet contained 6.8g of salt. Adding noodles took the salt figure to 11.5g – the equivalent to 33 packets of crisps.

Beef in satay sauce with noodles had 9.6g of salt at another restaurant.

Action on Salt also looked at 141 supermarket Chinese ready meals. Slimming World’s Chinese Style Banquet Rice had 4.4g salt per 550g pack. A Marks & Spencer Crispy Sweet and Sour Chicken Banquet measured 4.13g salt per 500g pack.

Action on Salt is calling on the Government to force restaurants to put warning labels on high salt dishes and set new salt reduction targets for ready meals.

It said: ‘Salt is the forgotten killer as it puts up our blood pressure, leading to tens of thousands of strokes, heart failure and heart attacks every year.’

The Chinese Catering Association UK said it had been encouraging members to produce dishes with lower levels of salt. The British Retail Consortium said supermarkets were reducing salt by ‘providing clear nutrition labelling and offering appropriate portion sizes’.