Aldi and The Co-op Group to Conform to UK Salt Reduction Pledge

Aldi and The Co-operative Group are the first supermarkets to sign up to the most recent salt reduct…

Aldi and The Co-operative Group are the first supermarkets to sign up to the most recent salt reduction targets issued by the UK department of health.

Numerous restaurants and food companies have signed up to the pledge, including manufacturers such as Mars, Nestlé, Heinz and Premier foods. The fact that Aldi and The Co-op have now come on board is a major boost for the pledge, which initially had some difficulty getting off the ground, according to reports in the English trade press.

The pledge is to bring the UK's salt intake down to no more than 6g of salt per person per day by 2017 and covers targets across around 80 food groups. Currently the average person in the UK consumes around 8.1g of salt per day, and research has shown that more than half the population rarely or never consider the amount of salt when buying food, despite the fact that around 86 per cent of the population know that too much salt is bad for their health.

The fact that Aldi has signed up to the pledge is particularly encouraging, as they have previously struggled to hit their salt targets. It is hoped that this move by Aldi and the Co-op will encourage other supermarkets to follow suit.