Popular Hong Kong dishes still high in sodium content, consumer watchdog says
Latest test shows levels unchanged when compared with studies conducted over past 10 years, with body calling on food industry to reduce salt usage
Sodium content levels in popular Hong Kong dishes have remained the same, according to the city’s consumer watchdog, after comparing them to findings from studies done over the past decade.
The Consumer Council conducted tests on 10 popular types of meal-on-one-plate dishes – where multiple food items are served on a single plate – using 100 samples.
The dishes included fried noodles with preserved vegetables and spare ribs, spaghetti Bolognese, baked pork chop with rice, and steamed rice with barbecued pork.
The council found nearly half of the samples hit or exceeded 2,000mg of sodium, the upper limit of the daily intake recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The figures have not changed from those discovered in studies conducted over the last 10 years.
“We need the food trade and consumers to be aware that these kinds of meals are contributors to their sodium intake,” said Dr Samuel Yeung Tze-kiu, principal medical officer for the Centre for Food Safety. “They have to do something to rectify this situation.”