Food manufacturers can, and should, reduce salt levels | Letters

Rachel Dixon’s article on salt (The truth about salt: how to avoid one of the world’s biggest hidden killers, 24 November) makes the point that our taste buds can adapt to less salt, but only if we are weaned off it gradually. For manufacturers of processed foods, it is difficult to help people do this since most consumers have a strong preference for well-salted products. Even minor reductions of salt in the recipe are instantly detected and people will often react by changing to competitive products that have stuck with the higher salt levels.

To break this cycle, manufacturers need to act in concert. It can be done. And has been done. In 2001, John Krebs, the then chair of the Food Standards Agency, asked me if I would lead an industry initiative to achieve meaningful reductions in the categories in which my company, Unilever, competed: categories such as soups, meal sauces, condiments and mayonnaise. The only way of making progress was for me to ask directly the CEOs of competitor companies if they were willing to engage in a process where we would all reduce the salt in our recipes by non-detectable amounts over a period of time. We decided collectively to make cuts of 10% per annum for three consecutive years, and thus target a compound reduction of more than 25% without consumers noticing.

Our food scientists and nutritionists collaborated with enthusiasm and the goal was reached. The success encouraged other sectors, in particular bread and breakfast cereals, to follow suit, and these various initiatives contributed to the huge strides made between 2003 and 2011 and the consequent 15% reduction of the population’s salt intake. The health benefits were obvious and measurable. This process is repeatable.
Gavin Neath
Twickenham, London