SOME of Britain’s best-known food companies will be named and shamed by health ministers for refusing to make substantial cuts in the salt content of food such as pizzas, bread, sausages and ready meals.
Heinz, Nestlé, Northern Foods, McDonalds and United Biscuits are among 27 companies named on a list of manufacturers, seen by The Times, which have been rebuked by Melanie Johnson, the Public Health Minister, for failing to draw up adequate plans to cut salt in processed food in an attempt to combat heart disease.
Ms Johnson also warned offenders, which include supermarket own brands such as Sainsbury, Waitrose, Asda and Marks & Spencer as well as Scolarest, the school meals company, that if they fail to bring forward improved proposals by September, the Government is likely to introduce compulsory warnings on high-salt products.
At present its move falls short of calls from MPs for new labelling or a ban on adverts aimed at children, but shows that ministers are prepared to tackle the food giants.
A source close to John Reid, the Health Secretary, said last night: “This period of time is an opportunity for companies to show that they are serious. Labour governments have regulated in a tough manner before — look at the ban on tobacco advertising. That is what happens if industries do not get serious.”
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The companies concerned hit back sharply last night, claiming that many had taken steps to reduce salt content but that the Government had not acknowledged this.
In her letter yesterday, Ms Johnson rejected plans put forward by the companies so far, claiming that they would cut salt intake by only 0.6 grams per day by 2005. The Government’s target is 6 grams a day, and officials say that the average adult intake is 18-24 grams a day, of which three quarters comes from processed food.
The crackdown comes years of wrangling over the food industry’s failure to make products healthier. Ministers have tried to rely on voluntary agreements to reduce salt, sugar and fat content.
But the latest report from the Commons Health Committee called for a system of “traffic lights” to warn consumers. This year Ms Johnson told the industry to draw up plans for reduce salt to help to reach the target of 6 grams a day. But she says the plans submitted were totally inadequate.
Research has shown that 70,000 strokes and heart attacks, over half of which are fatal, would be prevented if the average salt intake were reduced to 6 grams a day.
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Yesterday she wrote back to all the companies concerned, telling them that salt levels had to be cut by up to 45 per cent in products such as sausages, beefburgers, bread and breakfast cereals.
“The plans are too often short on detail and specific actions. What is needed are real commitments for key product categories such as pizza, breakfast cereals, sandwiches and ready-made meals to ensure that we reach the necessary reduction in salt intakes from processed foods.”
She said: “From the plans submitted, around 50 per cent of the products, such as pizzas, and ready meals, will continue to contain unacceptably high levels of salt.”
Officials told The Times that, to meet recommended intakes, salt in beefburgers would need to be cut by an average 40 per cent, in bread and cereals by 20-40 per cent, in sausages by 43 per cent, in ready meals by 38 per cent and baked beans by 33 per cent.
Marks & Spencer disclosed last night that it has already written to Ms Johnson expressing its frustration with the Government’s “confused and unco-ordinated” approach.
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“On a number of occasions,” David Gregory, head of food technology, wrote, “we have sought recognition for the fact that we have achieved more and more quickly than our competitors. We are frustrated that our commitment and achievements have not been recognised . . . We are disappointed that in the interests of openness, the FSA ‘name and shame’ approach cannot also be used to ‘name and praise’.”
M&S says that it has cut salt in bread by 20 per cent, in ready meals by 30 per cent, grocery products 20 per cent and pizzas 9 per cent.
Heinz said that it had removed 30 per cent of salt from its baked beans, and McDonalds said that an average Happy Meal now had 20 per cent less salt. “We have made a good start in this area,” the company said. “What the industry has done and what Government has recommended is step-by-step changes.”