Salt timeline of key events
Monday 18 May 2009
A summary of important events in the Agency's salt reduction work since 2003.
2003
May 2003
Scientific Committee on Nutrition (SACN) report on Salt and Health published, which recommended a reduction in the average population salt intake to 6g per day for adults.
October 2003
Draft FSA salt model published, which examined the effects of potential reductions in the salt content of different food groups on overall population salt intake.
November 2003
Salt stakeholder meeting held, at which the then Parliamentary Under Secretary for Public Health, Melanie Johnson, requested that food organisations write to her outlining what they are doing to reduce salt in food.
2004
February 2004
FSA started an ongoing series of meetings with individual organisations and small stakeholder groups to discuss salt reduction work.
September 2004
Salt campaign – first phase launched, which ran until end of November 2004.
November 2004
Department of Health (DH) White paper, Choosing Health, Making healthy choices easier, published.
2005
February 2005
FSA/DH wrote to individual food organisations requesting updates of commitments to reduce salt in foods. Salt model finalised and published.
March 2005
FSA Strategic Plan 2005-2010 published, which set a target to reduce the population's average salt intake to 6g per day by 2010 and establish targets for the salt content of key food categories by 2006.
April 2005
A summary of the commitments from food industry organisations to reduce salt in foods published on FSA and DH websites. First FSA stakeholder meeting held to discuss the development of targets for salt reduction in food categories.
June 2005
Second FSA stakeholder meeting held on the development of salt targets. Advisory Committee on Microbiological Safety of Food (ACMSF) discussed the FSA-commissioned report on 'Microbial risks associated with sodium chloride reduction in certain foods and alternative options for preservation' (produced by the Institute of Food Research).
July 2005
First FSA/DH joint statement published, which summarised the progress made by the food industry in reducing salt levels.
August 2005
Public consultation on proposed salt targets published (which ran for 12 weeks). Summary of the commitments received from food organisations to reduce salt levels updated and published.
October 2005
Public consultation on proposed salt targets closed. Salt campaign – second phase launched, which ran until November 2005. Summary of salt-reduction commitments received from food organisations updated and published.
2006
January/February 2006
FSA held a series of stakeholder meetings to discuss in detail the comments raised by the salt targets public consultation.
March 2006
Final salt reduction targets published.
July 2006
Publication of the results of the first sampling round of the Processed Food Database
Summer 2006
Series of short TV advertisements shown to maintain awareness of the key messages from phase 2 of the salt campaign.
September 2006
FSA held a series of stakeholder meetings to discuss the development of a self-reporting framework, which will be used to monitor progress made by industry towards achieving the targets. Stakeholder comments were requested on the content and format of a draft reporting system in February 2007.
2007
March 2007
Third phase of the FSA’s salt campaign launched.
Urinary sodium analysis results published estimating mean population average salt intakes at 9g per day
June 2007
The British Meat Processors Association, in collaboration with the FSA, published the Small Business Guidance, a guidance document for small and medium sized businesses on salt reduction.
August 2007
Self Reporting Framework (SRF) published.
October to November 2007
Data submissions under the SRF received from industry.
December 2007
Meeting held to brief stakeholders on 2008 review of salt targets.
2008
January 2008
Publication of the results of the second sampling round of the Processed Food Database.
January/February 2008
Series of sector specific meetings held with stakeholders to assess progress made to date, challenges being faced and salt target adjustments required to help inform the review of the salt targets.
March 2008
First meeting of the European Salt Action Network.
March to June 2008
Further meetings with stakeholders for individual food categories.
July 2008
Urinary sodium analysis results published estimating mean population average salt intakes at 8.6g per day.
July 2008
Public consultation on proposed revised salt targets for 2010 and 2012 published.
October 2008
Public consultation on proposed revised salt targets closed.
December 2008 to January 2009
Meetings with industry stakeholders to investigate the costs attributable to the proposed salt targets.
2009
February 2009
Second meeting of the European Salt Action Network.
May 2009
Revised salt reduction targets for 2010 and 2012 published.
October 2009
Launch of the fourth phase of the salt campaign.