Review of salt reduction targets

Thursday 28 August 2008

In March 2006 the FSA published a set of voluntary salt reduction targets for 85 categories of food, as guidance to the food industry. The Agency committed to review the targets in 2008, to formally assess progress to date and to establish what further reductions are necessary to maintain progress towards the intake target.

An initial meeting on the review was held in December 2007. This provided an opportunity for the Agency to brief stakeholders on how it intended to carry out the review, and provided stakeholders with a chance to ask questions or air any concerns. The letter sent to stakeholders about the December 2007 meeting, and a note of the meeting, can be found using the links below.

Following this meeting, a series of smaller, sector specific meetings covering the salt targets categories took place in January and February 2008. These meetings were held to discuss the targets in detail. Industry attendees were asked to report on progress on salt reduction to date, any significant challenges experienced, and what further levels of salt reduction could be achieved.

The outcomes of the meetings were used to help the Agency develop proposals for revised voluntary salt reduction targets. In deciding upon the proposals the Agency also took into account levels of salt in food, expert advice on technical and safety issues, ongoing research and data on current intakes.

A further stakeholder meeting was held in July 2008 to launch a 14 week public consultation on proposals to revise targets for a limited range of food categories for 2010, and new targets for most foods for 2012. In addition, proposals were also put forward for a regular review of progress and the targets on a biennial basis, with the next review to take place in 2010. Further details on the consultation package and the note of the July stakeholder meeting can be found using the links below.