(Simon Harvey/ Just Food) — Canada is again urging people to cut their intake of salt and plans to revise or come up with a new voluntary reduction initiative after a study found consumers are exceeding the recommended daily amount.
Despite introducing a regulatory proposal in February requiring front-of-package symbols on foods high in sodium, sugars and saturated fat to better inform consumers, Health Canada says more needs to be done.
Food manufacturers operating in Canada have had voluntary targets on sodium reduction to work towards between 2012 and 2016. Last year, Health Canada evaluated the progress that had been made against the targets and said the cuts to sodium had been “much lower than anticipated”, adding: “For most food categories, manufacturers did not do enough to reduce the sodium levels in the foods that they sell to Canadians.”
To that end, the governmental department is revisiting its voluntary sodium reduction programme for pre-packaged and restaurant foods and is also planning a monitoring scheme to evaluate and report on progress.
A report released by Health Canada July 23 shows the country’s consumers are taking in 2,760 milligrams of sodium a day, almost double the recommended daily amount, increasing the risk of heart disease and strokes. (…)