150 tonnes of salt removed from NZ bread

The spirit of cooperation between food manufacturers and health promotion groups is proving stronger than ever as a health initiative from the National Heart Foundation wins the Supreme Award at the 2008 New Zealand Health Innovation Awards (HIA).

The Foundation’s 'Project Target 450 —­ Reducing sodium in bread' won the Excellence in Prevention Award, and was declared the overall winner of the HIA.
Project spokesperson Namalie Jayasinha said the success of the project sets a benchmark for effective collaborations between food producers and health groups.

“It is exciting and very encouraging to see a new trend starting to take shape, whereby food manufacturers are actively increasing their emphasis on health.

“Project Target 450 is a testament to the strength of this movement, and we expect momentum to continue within other areas of the food industry.”

Project Target 450 saw the Heart Foundation work with New Zealand’s two major bread manufacturers, Goodman Fielder NZ Ltd and George Western Food NZ Ltd, to lower the amount of sodium in certain breads. These collaborations paved the way to approach private label companies, Foodstuffs NZ and Progressive Enterprises Ltd, and independent bakers, Couplands Bakeries Ltd and Yarrows Bakery.

The project came about after a study by the foundation revealed that some lower-cost, high-volume, packaged breads had a higher sodium level than more expensive alternatives. Eating too much sodium has strong links with high blood pressure, a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease.

In 2007, a pilot program began with the aim of reducing the amount of sodium in low-cost and high-volume breads to 450 mg per 100 g. In some cases, this meant a sodium reduction of approximately 20%.

Feedback from manufacturers suggests that consumers have not noticed the difference. By the time the project has been fully implemented, the Heart Foundation expects that up to 150 tonnes of salt will have been removed from the bread supply.

Heart Foundation food industry manager Dave Monro says he is looking forward to rolling out similar initiatives to other food industry sectors.

“The Heart Foundation is currently working with processed meat manufacturers to improve the nutritional value of their products and we hope to extend out to breakfast cereal producers soon.”

HIA judges described Project Target 450 as “an impressive initiative, conceived, managed and implemented very effectively and achieving outstanding results”.

The awards, a joint endeavour of the Ministry of Health and ACC, have run annually since 2003. They are an opportunity to showcase some of the cutting-edge developments and improvements within the health service.