Three in four sliced bread products as salty as bag of crisps, Action on Salt campaigners warn

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 ten 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.

Action on Salt is now urging Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to follow other countries around the world by setting mandatory salt reduction targets.

It said even small reductions in the salt content of bread would have a significant impact on public health.

Previous research on bread suggested salt content had been reduced by 8% since 2011, with some notable reductions for particular loaves such as Vogel’s Original Mixed Grain, Vogel’s Soya & Linseed and Schneider Brot Organic Sunflower Seed Bread.

However, some appeared to have increased in salt since 2011, including Sainsbury’s Medium Wholemeal, up 19%, the charity said.

Graham MacGregor, professor of cardiovascular medicine at Queen Mary University of London and Action on Salt chairman, said: “Reducing salt is the most cost-effective measure to lower blood pressure and reduce the number of people dying and suffering from strokes and heart disease.

“It’s therefore a disgrace that food companies continue to fill our food with so much unnecessary salt, as shown here in bread. For too long the food industry have been in charge of public health, at our expense; it’s time for the Government to stop letting people die needlessly.”