Compass cuts out eight tonnes of salt per year by reducing sachet size

Compass Group has taken almost eight tonnes of salt a year out of its offer by reducing the contents of its salt sachets by 25%.

The move follows the launch of the Government's Responsibility Deal in March, which saw the catering giant commit to three pledges that put health and wellbeing high on the business's agenda.

The salt pledge calls for food service providers to reduce salt in the food they serve; government targets are to lower salt by a further 15% by the end of 2012.

Compass said it was well on track to exceed this salt reduction, and by decreasing the size of salt sachets by 25% from 0.8g to 0.6g it has marked an industry first. The guideline daily amount (GDA) of salt that should be consumed by adults is 6g.

The company buys nearly 40 million sachets of salt per year, and so the 25% reduction in sachet size - which has been achieved in partnership with Compass's salt sachet supplier - means a decrease of 7,850kg of salt per year.

Mick Hickman, food service director at Compass Group UK & Ireland, commented: "This is an industry-leading move, and is undoubtedly a really simple and effective way to help people reduce their daily salt intake and take healthier steps towards a balanced diet, all without them even really noticing."

Other efforts by Compass to reduce its customers' salt intake have included the analysis of more than 2,000 recipes to ensure accurate nutritional information in the form of GDAs can now be provided to customers.

In addition, more than 4,000 product specifications are being reviewed to ensure all artificial trans-fats are removed from the food served by the end of 2011, and that Compass meets and hopefully exceeds the salt reduction targets set.

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By Janie Stamford

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