Written by Catherine Saxelby on Wednesday, 07 August 2013.
A. To be classified as a low-salt (low sodium) food, the official cut-off figure is 120 milligrams sodium or less per 100 grams. This applies to all unsalted foods as it takes into account the small quantity of natural sodium present in foods.
But at this low level, it can be hard to produce good-tasting foods. So for breads, cereals, soups and cracker biscuits, anything below 400mg is considered acceptable. Some organisations are even more lenient and set their cut-off higher at 600mg or less to encourage manufacturers to gradually decrease what's being added.
Jatz crackers | 665mg |
Cheddar cheese | 655mg |
Potato crisps | 640mg |
Bread, white or wholemeal | 570mg |
French fries | 340mg |
Just so you can see how much you’ll save in sodium if you shop for low-salt products or make the switch from highly-salted processed foods, compare these two food examples:
Canned tuna in brine | 415mg | |
Canned tuna in water | 82mg | SAVING OF 333mg sodium |
Ham | 1480mg | |
Pork steak, cooked | 72mg | SAVING OF 1408mg sodium |
Catherine Saxelby has the answers! She is an accredited nutritionist, blogger and award-winning author. Her award-winning book My Nutritionary will help you cut through the jargon. Do you know your MCTs from your LCTs? How about sterols from stanols? What’s the difference between glucose and dextrose? Or probiotics and prebiotics? What additive is number 330? How safe is acesulfame K? If you find yourself confused by food labels, grab your copy of Catherine Saxelby’s comprehensive guide My Nutritionary NOW!
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