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Food Standards Agency

Saturday 4 July 2009

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S14018: Change in sodium content of potato, pasta and rice with different cooking methods

S14018: Change in sodium content of potato, pasta and rice with different cooking methods

Background

A review of the literature revealed that there was limited information available regarding the amount of salt taken up by food during boiling in salted water. This is potentially of importance when considering the cooking of staple carbohydrates. The purpose of this research project was to determine the effect of adding salt to cooking water on the uptake of sodium into potatoes, pasta and rice.

The Food Standards Agency aims to reduce salt intake in the population to 6g per day by 2010 and this project will enable FSAS to have a more realistic assessment of sodium intake in Scotland.

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Approach

In order to replicate current cooking practices, a variety of schools and public sector institutions within Scotland were consulted to establish the amounts of salt added when boiling each of potatoes, pasta and rice. For each food type and variety raw composites were formed from 10 different samples and each composite was cooked in duplicate with and without salt.

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