title: Reducing salt in food; setting product-specific criteria aiming at a salt intake of 5 g per day.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  There is an increasing public health concern regarding high salt intake, which is generally between 9 and 12 g per day, and much higher than the 5 g recommended by World Health Organization. Several relevant sectors of the food industry are engaged in salt reduction, but it is a challenge to reduce salt in products without compromising on taste, shelf-life or expense for consumers. The objective was to develop globally applicable salt reduction criteria as guidance for product reformulation.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two sets of product group-specific sodium criteria were developed to reduce salt levels in foods to help consumers reduce their intake towards an interim intake goal of 6 g/day, and—on the longer term—5 g/day. Data modelling using survey data from the United States, United Kingdom and Netherlands was performed to assess the potential impact on population salt intake of cross-industry food product reformulation towards these criteria.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Modelling with 6 and 5 g/day criteria resulted in estimated reductions in population salt intake of 25 and 30% for the three countries, respectively, the latter representing an absolute decrease in the median salt intake of 1.8-2.2 g/day.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The sodium criteria described in this paper can serve as guidance for salt reduction in foods. However, to enable achieving an intake of 5 g/day, salt reduction should not be limited to product reformulation. A multi-stakeholder approach is needed to make consumers aware of the need to reduce their salt intake. Nevertheless, dietary impact modelling shows that product reformulation by food industry has the potential to contribute substantially to salt-intake reduction.
authors.affiliation: Unilever Research and Development Vlaardingen, Vlaardingen, Netherlands.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dötsch-Klerk
authors.affiliation: Unilever Research and Development Vlaardingen, Vlaardingen, Netherlands.
authors.forename: W P M M
authors.initials: WP
authors.lastname: Goossens
authors.affiliation: Unilever Research and Development Vlaardingen, Vlaardingen, Netherlands.
authors.forename: G W
authors.initials: GW
authors.lastname: Meijer
authors.affiliation: Unilever Research and Development Vlaardingen, Vlaardingen, Netherlands.
authors.forename: K H
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: van het Hof
mesh_terms: D054626:Consumer Health Information; D004039:Diet, Sodium-Restricted / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods*; D005502:Food / Q000191:economics / Q000592:standards*; D005518:Food Preferences; D005524:Food Technology; D057141:Food, Preserved / Q000032:analysis / Q000191:economics / Q000592:standards; D005525:Food-Processing Industry / Q000379:methods; D014943:Global Health; D017408:Guidelines as Topic; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D009426:Netherlands; D018673:Nutrition Policy; D009749:Nutrition Surveys; D052756:Nutritional Sciences / Q000193:education; D010349:Patient Compliance; D017673:Sodium Chloride, Dietary / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000032:analysis / Q000506:poisoning*; D006113:United Kingdom; D014481:United States
chemical_list: D017673:Sodium Chloride, Dietary