A new survey has revealed worrying figures showing that dining out for a slap up meal at some restaurants is posing a significant threat to our health due to the food having dangerously high salt levels in it.
In the survey 47 different main courses were analysed and results showed that as many as three-quarters
of meals had over 3g of salt in them while some had more than an eye watering 6g - which is the maximum the Food Standard Agency advises an adult eat in total per day.
The survey was carried out by a campaign group called Consensus Action on Salt and Health (Cash) who are looking to tackle the increasing problem salt is causing to diner’s health. The three biggest offenders with the saltiest food were found to be Old Orleans, Pizza Express and Wagamama.
Dishes at the restaurants analysed for their salt content include a chicken wings starter, chicken fajitas and apple pie dessert at Old Orleans - coming in at 15g - more than than twice the adult recommended daily allowance. At Wagamama results were similar high with a duck starter, chicken noodle dish and cheesecake
dessert totalling an 11.3g salt content.
Across England a total of 15 councils brought in trading standard officers to visit the restaurant and collect samples of the different meals. Food scientists found that the biggest salt offender were the chicken fajitas served at Old Orleans, which contains a total of 8.8g of salt in just one portion. Hot on its heals are the wings and ribs which each have 7.6 g of the dangerous white stuff.
Salt is so popular and used so liberally in fast food and chain restaurants to maximise taste as well as to hide cheaper and not so pleasant ingredients.
The effects of reducing our salt intake to the recommended 6g a day could be colossal, with up to 20,000 deaths being prevented from strokes and heart diseases every year, according to campaigners.
Old Orleans responded to the findings by claiming they will introduce a new training programme for chefs to ensure they are making use of “appropriate seasoning”. Wagamama and Pizza Express stated they were already taking steps to reduce the amount of salt they use in their food whenever possible.
