Food Standards Agency
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The Agency is holding a public meeting next month to disseminate the lessons learned from eight salt-reduction projects run over the past year by organisations working as partners in phase three of its salt campaign.
The eight projects, which have been running in different parts of the UK, range from initiatives targeted at peer educators and young parents to projects working with cooks in Hindu and Sikh temples and with housing association staff and residents.
The partners involved are the British Heart Foundation, the Food Commission, Haringey Teaching Primary Care Trust, Manchester Food Futures Partnership, Diabetes UK, Bristol Primary Care Trust, Kent County Council Trading Standards and the National Children’s Bureau.
The projects have been aiming to convey, in local or community settings, the salt campaign’s national messages that adults should eat no more that 6g of salt a day (children and babies even less), that 75% of the salt we eat is already contained in the food we buy, and that we should always check food labels for salt levels, so we can choose healthier options.
The British Heart Foundation, through its Social Cooking Project, has, for example, been working with cooks at 15 Hindu and Sikh places of worship, around the UK to get them to use less salt and fat in the meals they prepare for congregation members.
‘Most of the institutions were very enthusiastic and many have asked for a more long-term health promotion activities,’ British Heart Foundation Ethnic Strategy Co-ordinator Qaim Zaidi said.
Jessica Mitchell, Director of the Food Commission, said that the Commission’s salt campaign work with the Hexagon Housing Association, had shown that there were benefits to be had in carrying out healthy eating initiatives in a housing setting.
The ‘Eat Less Salt’ project, had helped staff and residents ‘build their knowledge, skills and enthusiasm for changing their salt consumption habits,’ she said. ‘Making links between social housing and healthy eating projects is a fantastic idea.’
Speakers at the dissemination event will outline the key points learned from all of the projects and highlight the benefits of partnership working.
The conference is being held in London on Friday 13 June, from 9.30am to 2pm. Places are limited. Anyone wishing to attend should contact farida.munir@foodstandards.gsi.gov.uk quoting reference number two, by 20 May 2008.
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