Four grams of salt!

This is how much salt is in most canned food products!


I was recently in a position where I had to buy supplies from a local shop, I usually only buy organic and prepare my own meals, but on this particular day I bought a can of Heinz veg soup. After eating it I noticed I was continually thirsty. After several pints of water I pulled the can out of the trash bin and had a look at the ingredients.

FOUR GRAMS OF SALT!!!

It was cunningly worded. 1 gram per 100 gram serving.
The entire can was four hundred grams, but they measure the amount of salt that's in 100 grams and print that on the label. At first glance you think that's the amount per can.

On my next few visits to the store I noticed many mothers buying cans of food (Baked Beans etc) that were very cheap, just 35 pence per can! I had a look at the ingredients. FOUR GRAMS of salt per can!
I looked at other canned products and they all had four grams per can!

If I were to put half the salt in that picture on to a spoon and offer it to a young child I'd probably be arrested, so why is it ok to put this much salt into their food?

What is it about the magic FOUR GRAM figure? Surely we'd expect to see some variation in the amount used, so why are all these products containing FOUR grams of salt?

I can my own food, and depending on what I am canning, the amount of salt and/or sugar would blow your mind. That's because it takes a lot to make a food shelf stable so it won't kill you to eat it. You can pressure can it but even then it's not guaranteed. Thus why they add "extras."

I don't think it's nefarious. It's the only way to preserve things - salt, sugar, vinegar. You can't make food shelf stable without them unless you pressure cook them. And who has time for that in this economy....

Most foods you buy from the supermarket are nutritionally deficient for just this reason. They take real food, process it to the point of oblivion, add preservatives, and then can it with tons of unnecessary crap. And call it food. Food it aint.

At least I know where the food I canned at home came from. I grew it myself.

reply to post by VoidHawk


I don't eat salty canned or overly processed food anymore; I try and eat foods in their whole forms and cook at home...that way I have control over how much salt goes into the meals I prepare.

reply to post by otherpotato


Just suffered a heart attack and surgery a few weeks ago! Just learned anything in a can, box or package is going to have fat, salt or sugar in copious amounts (all the things killing us)! Shop the outside isles of the grocery store and make sure at least 50% of your cart/basket is from the produce department!
brice

reply to post by brice


Brice, you are so right! I have been eating the (Mediterranean diet) for about a month now; and I am getting healthier. In the Mediterranean diet people eat foods in their whole forms. I have been eating a lot of fish; some poultry, fruits, veggies, (all fresh), whole grain pasta, brown rice, beans, extra virgin olive oil, olives, low-fat feta cheese in moderation, nuts etc. My doctor suggested this way of eating and I really just love it! I have checked out several cook books from the library that have loads of Mediterranean recipes.

reply to post by brice


The reason for canning foods is to preserve them so that they can be safely eaten past their growing season. Of course eating fresh foods is best. But one cannot always eat fresh food - because in most parts of the world you cannot grow fresh vegetables year round. Thus why canning - and freezing - was invented.

Keeping foods frozen requires electricity. Canning does not. To keep vegetables stable without electricity requires a pressure canner. And or a ton of salt. Or sometimes both.

It's romantic to think all food can be "fresh" but try actually growing that food and storing it to consume. Any food that is not in season in your area when you buy it is commercial food. And I'm including the "organic" food in that statement. It's not organic if it came from a supermarket.

You're eating 4 servings of canned food and complaining about the amount of salt you just ate?

That's a little bit funny.

Make sure you don't go eating anything like sundried tomatoes if you're worried about sodium levels.

But then if you're eating 4 times a single serving, you're already doing it wrong.

reply to post by winofiend

You're eating 4 servings of canned food and complaining about the amount of salt you just ate?

That's a little bit funny.

Bears repeating. Canned food from the supermarket will always contain salt. That's what makes it safe for you to eat!

Originally posted by otherpotato
reply to post by winofiend

 

You're eating 4 servings of canned food and complaining about the amount of salt you just ate?

That's a little bit funny.

Bears repeating. Canned food from the supermarket will always contain salt. That's what makes it safe for you to eat!

Oh I'm not disputing that.

Just commenting that it's like when a parent complains about their kids becoming fat from all the hidden sugar in soda, when they let their kids drink 6 litres of fanta a day.

That was another thread though, same principle.

Yes because historically man consumed less salt than today . . . or we could realize that salt consumption is in fact far lower than it used to be. Just go back a hundred years or more and learn about rations.


Salt
Mark Kurlansky
www.amazon.com...=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1369914820&sr=1-1&keywords=salt

Homer called it a divine substance. Plato described it as especially dear to the gods. As Mark Kurlansky so brilliantly relates here, salt has shaped civilisation from the beginning, and its story is a glittering, often surprising part of the history of mankind. Wars have been fought over salt and, while salt taxes secured empires across Europe and Asia, they have also inspired revolution - Gandhi's salt march in 1930 began the overthrow of British rule in India.

From the rural Sichuan province where the last home-made soya sauce is produced to the Cheshire brine springs that supplied salt around the globe, Mark Kurlansky has produced a kaleidoscope of world history, a multi-layered masterpiece that blends political, commercial, scientific, religious and culinary records into a rich and memorable tale.

I say more salt, more physical activity, more time in the sun, and less "sugar."

EDIT
Be grateful that it is all uniform and includes iodine as it was not always that way and thanks to modern standards we as a people don't need to know a damn thing about what we are stuffing our faces with.

Originally posted by winofiend
You're eating 4 servings of canned food and complaining about the amount of salt you just ate?

That's a little bit funny.

Make sure you don't go eating anything like sundried tomatoes if you're worried about sodium levels.

But then if you're eating 4 times a single serving, you're already doing it wrong.

I gotten used to your way of...commenting!

But where did I say I ate FOUR servings?

If your suggesting ONE can of veg soup is four servings then I have to ask, Are you a midget?
One tin barely fills one soup bowl! If one tin were divided into four servings each serving wouldn't even fill a small tea cup! Is that your idea of a meal?

I also made it quite clear I don't normally eat this CRAP! so not really fare to suggest I'm "doing it wrong"

I am spot on for my BMI index and I could easily eat two cans per sitting!

Originally posted by brice
reply to post by otherpotato

 

Just suffered a heart attack and surgery a few weeks ago! Just learned anything in a can, box or package is going to have fat, salt or sugar in copious amounts (all the things killing us)! Shop the outside isles of the grocery store and make sure at least 50% of your cart/basket is from the produce department!
brice

Sorry to hear about your health.
Just wondering what you meant by "Shop the outside isles of the grocery store". Is that where the healthier food is likely to be?

Originally posted by FriedBabelBroccoli
thanks to modern standards we as a people don't need to know a damn thing about what we are stuffing our faces with.

"Thanks to modern standards" Are you being sarcastic?

Might I remind you of just how many food products were recently found to contain Horse meat? and yes I know horse meat wont hurt us but the point is IT SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN THERE, it evaded ALL those standards that you suggest protect us, and not just one set of standards, it evaded MANY separate standards!

Also, much of that horse meat WAS contaminated!

People who ignore what they're eating and simply rely on standards turn into those over weight fat blobs we see on our streets.

Originally posted by caladonea
reply to post by VoidHawk

 

I don't eat salty canned or overly processed food anymore; I try and eat foods in their whole forms and cook at home...that way I have control over how much salt goes into the meals I prepare.

Hi caladonea.
I'm glad to see you are concerned about what your eating.
I don't normally eat the canned poo either, just had no choice one day and was surprised at what I found. Like you I eat whole natural food that I cook myself, unfortunately most people these days are just too lazy to bother.