In its latest survey of 159 bakery items and 28 hot drinks from the six high street coffee shop chains, CASH found that muffins were “consistently high in salt”.
It added: “23 of the 27 muffins surveyed were found to contain more salt than a packet of crisps.”
But the worst offender was a luxury fruit scone from Caffè Nero, which contained 2.1g of salt: more than a third of the maximum recommended daily intake. Cookies from EAT containing more than 1.5g of salt were also singled out along with a Prêt A Manger chocolate bar that contained 1.528g salt per portion.
Notable improvements since 2008
“Many people don’t realise sweet foods can also contain unnecessary salt,” said CASH campaign manager Katharine Jenner.
However, she also acknowledged that there had been “notable improvements” since 2008.
“For instance, the average salt content of muffins and pastries has been reduced by a quarter, a 0.92g to 0.68g reduction for muffins and 0.79g to 0.59g for pastries.”
* Food Manufacture is holding a new conference on reformulation issues on February 8 in London. For more details, click here.