Labelling - Salt & Sodium

Does anyone have a copy of a Morrisons policy (or EU law apparently) which states that for labelling purposes, salt must be calculated from sodium? I currently calculate salt from measurement of chloride and sodium by difference.

Is this wrong? (It is an issue raised from a retailer audit)

If anyone can help, I'd really appreciate it.

Pops.

Hi,

You can find it in the REGULATION (EU) No 1169/2011 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT. This is the new regulation for food information to consumers.

See annex I :
'‘salt’ means the salt equivalent content calculated using the formula: salt = sodium × 2,5'


Pascal B.

Hi,

You can find it in the REGULATION (EU) No 1169/2011 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT. This is the new regulation for food information to consumers.

See annex I :
'‘salt’ means the salt equivalent content calculated using the formula: salt = sodium × 2,5'


Pascal B.

Dear Pascal,

Thks for this interesting, and very wide-scoped, document (Oct.2011). Not sure if it has been discussed here already or not ?

Seems to answer Poppy's query although it appears (only guessing) that the content is not (yet) totally/partially mandatory in UK, eg this May 2012 document -

FSA consultation 14May 2012 - consult-front-of-pack.pdf   731.48KB   92 downloads

I daresay that it is is not mandatory in Afghanistan either.

Rgds / Charles.C

PS i subsequently noticed this comment at the link given underneath -

It shall apply and become effective from 13 December 2014 (see Article 55 of the Regulation) with the exception of the new mandatory nutrition labelling requirement which will be effective from 13 December 2016. There are a few additional transitional provisions - see Article 54 for details.

http://www.foodlaw.rdg.ac.uk/label.htm

(NB - page last updated Nov 2011)

PPS - Apparently Ireland decided to be (extremely) pro-active -

REGULATION (EU) No 1169/2011- Provision of food information to consumers
Posted on December 12, 2011

Download below! The new regulation on the provision of food information to consumers. This regulation came into force today (12/12/2011).

http://www.qsd.ie/regulation-eu-no-11692011-provision-of-food-information-to-consumers

Dear Pascal,

Thks for this interesting, and very wide-scoped, document (Oct.2011). Not sure if it has been discussed here already or not ?

Seems to answer Poppy's query although it appears (only guessing) that the content is not (yet) totally/partially mandatory in UK, eg this May 2012 document -

FSA consultation 14May 2012 - consult-front-of-pack.pdf   731.48KB   92 downloads

I daresay that it is is not mandatory in Afghanistan either.

Rgds / Charles.C

PS i subsequently noticed this comment at the link given underneath -


http://www.foodlaw.rdg.ac.uk/label.htm

(NB - page last updated Nov 2011)

PPS - Apparently Ireland decided to be (extremely) pro-active -


http://www.qsd.ie/re...on-to-consumers

Thanks for the replies, guys - in particular to Charles C for the additonal information. I had come across the EU regulation but just wasn't sure if it was legally enforceable at this point in time.

Very much appreciated!

Pops.

Re query on Salt calcualtion - from experience of Morrisons web based specification system and other retailers, salt has always been calculated as sodium x 2.5, and generally the calculation is done automatically by these systems when entering the sodium value.

I now work for a Waitrose dedicated site an their policy is:

'2.5 is the industry recognised conversion factor for the sodium to salt value.'

Regards

Re query on Salt calcualtion - from experience of Morrisons web based specification system and other retailers, salt has always been calculated as sodium x 2.5, and generally the calculation is done automatically by these systems when entering the sodium value.

I now work for a Waitrose dedicated site an their policy is:

'2.5 is the industry recognised conversion factor for the sodium to salt value.'

Regards

Thanks Scotty.

So are the retailers saying that salt calculated from chloride cannot be used for labelling purposes, even if UKAS accredited with sufficient external proficiency test results to back it up? Have never had this issue until now.

Pops

Thanks Scotty.

So are the retailers saying that salt calculated from chloride cannot be used for labelling purposes, even if UKAS accredited with sufficient external proficiency test results to back it up? Have never had this issue until now.

Pops

I've just double checked Morrisons policy - states the following:

Salt content is calculated as total sodium x 2.5 (page 20 of attachment)

The only instance I have come across using the chloride content to calculate salt content was when using Potassium chloride for a 'low salt' product.

Regards