Three quarters of supermarket-bought bread contains as much salt in a slice as a packet of ready salted crisps, health campaigners have warned. Action on Salt surveyed 242 pre-packaged loaves of sliced bread from 28 firms sold at 10 of the UK’s largest supermarkets, and found three in four contained as much salt or more per slice than the 0.34g found in a packet of ready salted crisps.
The saltiest loaf was Hovis White with Starter Dough, containing 1.48g of salt per 100g of bread – nearly three times the amount of the least saltiest Waitrose Rye and Wheat Dark Sourdough, with 0.51g of salt per 100g, the charity found. A consumer eating two slices of Hovis Soft White Extra Thick bread would be consuming a fifth of their maximum recommended daily salt intake, Action on Salt said.
While the majority of loaves fell below the 2024 maximum salt target set by the Department of Health and Social Care in 2020, Action on Salt said the large variations suggested that the targets were “far too lenient”, with scope for further reductions. Too much salt is known to increase the risk of high blood pressure, which is linked to heart disease and stroke. High blood pressure affects around a third of adults in England.
