Voluntary targets to cut salt, fat and sugar on food menu
THE shift away from sugar has spread to the sauce bottle, with Rosella spending a year developing a “breakthrough” meat pie-topper “that still tastes good” but contains half the sugar and salt content.
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THE shift away from sugar has spread to the sauce bottle, with Rosella spending a year developing a meat pie-topper containing half the sugar and salt content of its standard product.
And reduced salt, saturated fat and sugar targets are being developed for a range of commonly bought foods.
Soft drink giants including Coca-Cola and Pepsi this week pledged to reduce sugar use by 20 per cent over seven years. But some highest-sugar drinks will not be changed, as manufacturers push low-sugar alternatives and reduce some serving sizes.
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And Rosella spent a year developing its Honest Kids Tomato Sauce containing half the sugar and salt content of its standard tomato sauce.
At 10.2 per cent sugar, it is sweetened with carrot juice concentrate and apple and tomato puree and has no added cane sugar.
Rosella senior brand manager Tracey Fitzsimmons said: “The breakthrough was coming up with a reduced sugar version that still tastes good”.
“We did some internal market research that found a lot of mums introduce children to tomato sauce from the age of three.”
A Healthy Food Partnership working group comprising government, industry and public health representatives is devising proposed voluntary product reformulation goals.
Full details of draft targets covering about 40 food categories are due to be released for public consultation later this year.
Australian Food and Grocery Council spokesman James Mathews said the sector had been actively working to “cooperatively tackle obesity, encourage healthy eating and empower food manufacturers to make positive changes to their products”.
“We are working through the process to reduce sodium, sugar and saturated fat across commonly purchased products while ensuring that these companies still maintain their quality and food safety,” he said.
A federal government spokeswoman said proposed new voluntary targets would build on current food industry actions, and targets previously set under a former forum.
Past priority areas have been bread, breakfast cereals, simmer sauces, processed meats, soups, savoury pies, processed poultry, cheese, potato and corn snacks, and savoury crackers.
Nutritionist Catherine Saxelby, of foodwatch.com.au, said the amount of sugar in some savoury sauces was surprising.
Tomato sauces were typically 16-29 per cent sugars. Added sugar normally exceeded the naturally-occurring sugar from tomatoes.
Barbecue sauces ranged from 23-54 per cent; and sweet chilli 42-69 per cent.
“Consumers should compare brands by the least sugars or salt per 100g or per 100ml,” Ms Saxelby advised.
“And there’s no need to pack it on and drown your food in sauce. Just use a small amount that’s enough for flavour.”
Ms Saxelby said soft drinks and cordials were the biggest sugar contributor in the average Aussie diet, and should be the first to be cut back.
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