Food Safety Focus (173rd Issue, December 2020) – Food Incident Highlight

Reduction of Salt in Bread – Smooth and Steady

The Population Health Survey revealed that the daily intake level of salt in Hong Kong adults is 8.8g. This is much higher than the World Health Organization (WHO)’s recommendation of less than 5g of salt per day for reducing risks of high blood pressure, stroke and heart diseases. In line with the WHO's global target and the local strategy to prevent and control NCD with a target of 30% reduction in mean population intake of salt by 2025, the Centre for Food Safety set up voluntary sodium reduction targets for prepackaged white and wholemeal bread under the Salt Reduction Scheme in September 2019 to reduce their sodium content through reformulation.

  Seven major bakery chains and retailers joined the Scheme, and they have already reformulated and reduced the salt levels in their prepackaged loaves in stages. All of these prepackaged loaves have already met the maximum sodium reduction targets. With the experience in hand, the Scheme is to further recruit smaller local bakeries in December 2020, aiming to reduce the salt in their non-prepackaged loaves. CFS has provided members assistance in training and testing and has helped them to establish Standard Operating Procedures.