The WHO recommendations - Reducing salt intake in populations 2007 - call for both governments and industry to commit to reducing the average salt consumption of the adult population to the maximum of 5g salt/day.
If the food industry fails to comply with the recommendations established in the report, regulatory approaches will be initiated by the WHO.
Guiding principles
The guiding principles contained in the report are as follows:
A salt reduction policy should be complementary to existing national policies and action plans such as food and nutrition, health promotion and chronic disease prevention.
A coordinated and sustainable salt reduction policy should be developed with a specific budget allocated for its implementation.
A strategy aiming to reduce salt intake should, whenever possible, attempt to mobilize and utilise existing resources.
All social classes need to be specifically targeted,
particularly the most vulnerable and poor.
Messages need to be consistent across policies and programmes, ensuring that there is no conflict between the goal of reducing dietary salt intake and other public health goals.
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