Saturday 30 January 2010

More salty nonsense

Kellogg's is going to remove 30% of the salt in its breakfast cereals following pressure from Britain's Food Standards Agency. Despite slowly reducing the salt in its cereals over the past twelve years by 45%, it's not enough for the bureaucrats.

Professor Graham MacGregor, Chairman of Consensus Action on Salt and Health (just make the cheque out to CASH!), a pressure group of salt-fearing medics, says: "We are thrilled that Kellogg's has finally acknowledged that people don't want salty breakfast cereals."

What a complete arse! Why would Kellogg's wilfully force salt down its customers' throats? I imagine the salt adds to the manufacturing cost so I doubt very much they include it if their customers really don't want it. And if that were the case, why are Kellogg's products so successful if their cereals are so salty and crap no one wants to buy them? I wonder how many brain cells Prof MacGregor possesses if he can make such stupid statements as that.

15 comments:

  1. Why is salt needed in a breakfast cereal anyway? Tastebud conditioning?
    Sorry XTM but just for once I disagree with your opinion and I am just putting mine forward for comments from other bloggers.
    Lots of foods are too salty for my taste. I do not add salt to anything, including eggs, as I like the taste fine as it is. If I want to add salt I can do this myself from the shaker or through adding cheese, marmite, anchovies etc. For me, this usually means drinking lots of water afterwards followed by a few trips to the loo at night-time!
    I would like to have a choice on the amount of salt I consume. For me, it's more a matter of taste than health, but choice is paramount.

    Cora

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  2. Just a thought but salt, as we know is a preservative. I wonder being forced to reduce salt will result in more E numbers ?

    On a slightly different note a certain brand of bread reduced its salt quantity it used to taste fresh for about 3 days after purchase. Since the reduction in salt however it only really tastes fresh on the day it was bought.

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  3. XTM, Our bodies need a fraction of sodium compared with what they get with a standard UK diet. We don't need to add salt at all. Added salt KILLS. Wean yourself off it and you taste the real taste of food.

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  4. I don't necessarily disagree but since when did we rely on coercion instead of education and persuasion?

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  5. hehe my doctor told me to use more salt! I have really really low blood pressure and the salt will raise it.
    Like Cora, I don't add salt and rarely cook with it and when I do it usually is half the amount...if that much! (I'll eat Salt& Vinegar chips or the such for my extra salt).
    I've noticed a number of companies are reducing the salt in their foods. Interesting because they don't seem to taste different. Makes you wonder doesn't it? Especially the bread one...
    How about education with persuasion?

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  6. Libby, I'm the same. I have the odd packet of crisps and I like it but some food does taste better to me without salt, or a very small amount added by me. I draw the line at bacon though, simply can't eat it for its salt content. Bread, however, does need some salt. I made a loaf in my breadmaker once with just a pinch of salt instead of the recommended 1/2 teaspoon. It looked fine but tasted a bit bland with just butter, although some cheese and/or salami would have balanced that.
    I think putting so much salt in food is also a form of coercion as it leaves people without a choice.

    Cora

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  7. Toscana bread is made without salt, it tastes weird to me, as if the cook had love troubles or something (we have this saying if anything is too salty that the cook is in love and hence distracted and added the salt two times; so I figured if something doesn't contain salt at all that the cook will have love troubles and thus forgotten clean about adding it). Also, if I remember well I read that bread dough usually must contain salt so the yeasts can cure the dough properly and open up the flour. But maybe that's not true because the Toscana bread looked quite nice. They told me they bake their bread without salt because they usually eat it with spicy soups and other dishes (we got it for breakfast). Best wishes from Styria! Barbara

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  8. "We are thrilled that Kellogg's has finally acknowledged that people don't want salty breakfast cereals."

    SHOULD READ :

    "We are thrilled that Kellogg's has finally acknowledged that people LIKE US don't want OTHERS TO HAVE salty breakfast cereals."

    Food fascists.

    Alan Douglas

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  9. Slightly of topic - I went looking or Sugar Frosties. I know they're salty, sugary, expensive flakes of unhealthiness but so? I'm an adult and if I want to indulge in 1 box of toxic cereal per year, surely that's my choice? Except apparently it's not as I've been to at least a dozen supermarkets - none of which have any. And there is no vacant space where they've sold out.

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  10. @ Anonymous. Ar'nt sugar frosties basicly cornflaks with a fair bit of added suger. i'd have thought you could make something not to dissimilar. I may be wrong of course....

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  11. @Anonymous - not quite the same. I've tried. But the sugar is somehow baked on or caked on (or some other horrible process I don't really want to think about)and the texture is not quite the same as just dumping sugar on Cornflakes. Frosties stay crunchier. I really, really want those Frosties.

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  12. I'm with you on the Frosties. Also, Ricicles are the same sort of thing but for Rice Krispies. I don't know if they still make them... probably not. I can imagine that soon we'll have a choice of unsalted cornflakes or All-Bran. Bring back Sugar Smacks!

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  13. If they try to remove the salt from my bacon or sausages, there will be blood shed. It's my choice.

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  14. OMG, now I want Ricicles. I may have to try buying them on Ebay or something. Lord, that sounds desperate doesn't it?

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