Jamie Oliver's pasta sauces contain too much salt, says CASH

12th November 2009, 7:20am

New research carried out by Consensus Action on Salt and Health (CASH) shows that many pasta sauces on sale in the UK, particularly some branded products and those fronted by celebrity chefs, contain much higher amounts of salt than others.

CASH surveyed 190 jars, pots and packets of pasta sauces. Both branded and supermarket own-label products from Tesco, Sainsbury, Asda, Morrison's, Waitrose, Marks & Spencer, Somerfield and the Co-op were included in the research.

Combined, the branded sauces, including Dolmio, Ragu, Jamie Oliver and Loyd Grossman averaged at 1.17g of salt per 100g, while the supermarket own-label products combined averaged at around 0.86g of salt per 100g, 25% less than the branded products.

The highest salt product found on the shelves was Jamie Oliver's Spicy Olive and Garlic sauce with 3.0g of salt per 100g. Per half a 350g jar this works out as 5.3g (as stated on pack), which is nearly all (88%) of an adult's recommended limit of 6g of salt per day in one serving, and the same salt content as over ten packets of ready-salted crisps.

Weight Watchers' Roasted Garlic pasta sauce contains just 0.1g of salt per 100g, a thirtieth of the Jamie Oliver sauce's salt level.

Huge variations were found in other sauces with similar ingredients, for example Loyd Grossman's Bolognese sauce contains 1.5g of salt per 100g whilst ASDA's Good For You Bolognese was found to contain just 0.3g of salt per 100g, a fifth of the salt content of the Lloyd Grossman version.

Katharine Jenner, Nutritionist and CASH campaign manager said: "Pasta with sauce is a quick and simple meal for many of us. But this survey shows it can be incredibly hard to choose a healthy option. We urge manufacturers to reduce their salt content and improve their labelling immediately."

Melanie Leech, director general of the Food and Drink Federation, said: "UK food manufacturers are leading the world on changing the recipes of their products – including pasta sauces – to contain less salt. Consumers have a very wide choice of tasty products to choose from and, as the CASH announcement demonstrates, those who want a lower salt option can find one simply by looking at the Guideline Daily Amount (GDA) labels that are found on the front of most food and drink products in the UK."

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