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A new report by the food research centre at Teagasc has found that half of the ham products sampled contained salt levels above the Food Safety Authority Ireland (FSAI) guidelines.
Despite this, the average salt content of the ham products tested was below the industry-agreed guidelines.
The report into processed meat products was carried out by food scientists at Teagasc and the school of nutritional sciences in University College Cork.
Researchers analysed 30 different cooked hams and 36 bacon products purchased from four different Irish retailers.
Above the guidelines
The average salt content in the ham products came in at 1.74%, meaning it was below FSAI guidelines.
However, half of the ham samples tested contained salt levels above the guidelines.
Similar results were found in the bacon products as the average salt content was found to be 2.53% – falling within the guidelines.
However, 25% of the analysed bacon samples still had values above these guidelines.
Despite some ham and bacon products having more salt content than the industry-agreed headlines, researchers found this contrasted with the nutrition label as all the products declared salt content equal to or below the FSAI guidelines.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends adults a salt intake of less than 5g per day.
Teagasc's report states that “high consumption of meat and processed meat products has been regularly linked to increasing risk of chronic diseases like cardiovascular disease, obesity, diabetes and certain types of cancer.”
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