Major managed pub operators have vowed to reduce salt content in dishes after a new survey found up to 15 crisp packets worth of salt in some pie meals.
JD Wetherspoon, Punch Taverns and Greene King made the commitment after a survey from campaign group Consensus Action on Salt and Health (CASH), which examined the salt content in pie meals at major operators for National Salt Awareness Week (21-27 March).
The highest content was found in Wetherspoon’s Chicken & Mushroom Pie with chips or mash, gravy and peas, which contained 7.5g of salt, the same as 15 packets of crisps or 125% of the recommended daily maximum of 6g.
Second place was Wetherspoon’s British Beef and Abbot Ale Pie meal (6.7g), followed by the Lamb and Mint Pie meal and Steak and Ale Pie meal from Punch Tavern’s managed pubs, which contained 6.5g and 6.3g of salt respectively.
Fifth was the Beef & Ale Pie meal served at Greene King’s Hungry Horse brand, with 6.18g.
JD Wetherspoon spokesman Eddie Gershon said: “We take on board the findings of the report. Wetherspoons is working closely with its suppliers, food development chefs and the Food Standards Agency to reduce the levels of salt in some meals.
“We will aim to reduce the level of salt in the two particular meals they pointed out in the coming months.”
Gershon stressed that the salt content referred to the entire meals, not just the pie itself. He also said the company’s most popular pie, Steak & Kidney, has far less salt, just 4g.
A Punch spokeswoman said: “We are committed to delivering the highest standards of guest wellbeing across our estate. We have made good progress in reducing the salt content of our dishes to comply with the 2010 guidelines and are now working towards compliance with the 2012 guidelines.”
A spokeswoman for Hungry Horse said: "We are actively working to reduce the salt content across our menus and are committed to hitting the Government 2012 salt reduction targets. Many dishes already meet the targets ahead of the deadline. As part of that work, the dish highlighted by CASH will be one we will look to revise.
"We publish nutritional information about our menus to enable customers to make informed decisions and provide a wide variety of choice.
"We have also increased the range of healthy options available on our 'under 600 calorie' and 'super salad' sections as part of our new menu which launched on Tuesday 15 March."
The lowest salt content was found to be 3.9g per potion: Young’s Award Winning Steak & Ale Pie with mash and vegetables.
Pies at takeaways and cafes had far less salt. The highest content was 2.83g, Holland’s Chicken Balti Pie, and the lowest was EAT’s Goat’s Cheese and Sweet Potato Pie, at 0.8g. However, these were for individual pies rather than full meals.
The highest salt content in a supermarket pie was 2.69g per potion for Waitrose’s Steak, Mushroom & Red Wine Pie.
CASH campaign director Katharine Jenner said: “Men need to reduce the salt in their diets but, although few would think of pie and mash as a healthy meal, many do not realise they could be exceeding their daily maximum of 6g of salt in just one meal.”
