WHEN most people head to a takeaway for a pizza or a Chinese or Indian carryout, the last thing on their mind is how much salt will be in every mouthful they eat.
But that might be about to change with the results of a new city council investigation which provides serious food for thought.
The study into takeaways across Edinburgh has left nutritionists gobsmacked, with some dishes exceeding an entire day's
allowance of salt.
Council investigators are now contacting those restaurants surveyed – which have not been publicly named – to advise chefs on how to reduce salt.
From a sample of 20 takeaways, an alarming 87 per cent of Chinese-style dishes had more than 3g of salt – half the daily recommended allowance for adults.
One takeaway was using 8.99g of salt in its beef with oyster sauce dish.
Investigators discovered a similar picture in Indian dishes across the Capital, with 60 per cent of those sampled containing more than 3g of salt.
Perhaps the most worrying find was a portion of lamb biryani, found to contain 9.66g of salt – greatly in excess of the daily recommended amount of 6g.
Nutritionist Carrie Bolt, from Consensus Action on Salt and Health, which advises on healthy salt consumption said the findings were very worrying.
"Some people eat a takeaway on a Friday and Saturday night, as well as on a 'treat' night. It's hard to call them treats though when you think of what is in some of this food.
"It's easy to see how some people's takeaways could easily have as much as 20g of salt. Lots of people order numerous side dishes as well as main courses."
Eating too much salt is more dangerous than most people realise. It can raise blood pressure, which can cause heart disease, strokes, kidney failure and eye damage.
But it is unlikely that many people are aware of how damaging a salty diet can be, or how much they are actually eating every day.
The difficulty lies in knowing the amount of salt already in food before choosing to add any more. This applies particularly to ready meals, tinned foods and snacks – and also to takeaways.
A typical Chinese takeaway dish can contain as much as 9g of salt, or as little as 2.7g, yet a fish supper has a relatively low salt content of only 1.2g.
"Fish, batter and chips do not naturally contain very much salt," says Ms Bolt.
"The salt content is only really affected by the amount people choose to add themselves. But when it comes to Indian and Chinese dishes, for example, the salt is already added to the dish for the customer. There are also so many flavours, making it impossible to know how much salt you're eating."
The study comes at a time when the popularity of takeaways is soaring as a result of the recession. Diners turning their backs on restaurants have helped trade at some fast food outlets soar 17 per cent in recent months.
It is not just Chinese and Indian takeaways that were found to have high levels of salt in their dishes.
Investigators also discovered a fast-food roll, filled with a link sausage, containing 1.32g of salt; a chicken burger with 2.43g; and an egg-mayonnaise roll with 2.13g of salt.
Most fast-food outlets use a high salt content, including Domino's Pizza which has 9g of the ingredient in its large, thin crust, pepperoni creations.
For every Big Mac bought from McDonald's, customers can expect to take in 2.1g of salt.
Renowned Edinburgh chef Tony Singh says: "In an ideal world we would not expect high salt content at all in takeaways, but people enjoy cheap food.
"If you pay £5 for a dish, you can expect it will have processed ingredients, such as cheaper, more salty chicken. In general though, Indian food at its best is actually very healthy."
The fast food survey was carried out by community safety staff from the city council earlier this year, and they are now speaking to the worst-offending restaurants to offer advice.
Environment leader Robert Aldridge said: "The results of this survey show that we need to be increasingly careful about hidden salt levels and demonstrate why our staff are promoting a greater understanding of safe salt levels to food businesses across the city, helping us all to make educated choices about the food we buy."
