Watch Salt In Free-From Foods

A new survey carried out by health campaigners has found that many foods advertised as ‘wheat free’ or ‘dairy free’ contain more salt than other similar standard alternatives.

In an investigation into ‘free from’ products, it was found that over half of the 71 supermarket own-label products had higher salt levels than its alternatives.

UK-based retailer Sainsbury’s freefrom Jaffa Cakes were found to have 0.67 grams of salt per 100 grams, compared to 0.1 grams in the shop’s standard Jaffa Cakes.

Katharine Jenner, a nutritionist, said that it was putting people with certain allergies at risk.

She said that many people in the UK suffer from food allergies such as coeliac disease, which means they are unable to tolerate gluten – a protein found in grains such as wheat, barley and rye.

Ms Jenner added: “We don’t think they should be risking their health further by consuming high-salt Free From products.”

Many of the products surveyed were cakes, biscuits and pastries, which Ms Jenner said people probably wouldn’t expect to have any salt in them at all.

Last month, The European Commission said it was putting together a scheme to stop food manufacturers promoting products as being “healthy” if they only have one or two healthy ingredients and if other ingredients include “high” levels of sugar, saturated fat or salt.