Food industry 'failing working mums'
29 Jan 2008The chairman of the Consensus Action on Salt and Health (CASH) has called for the food industry to help busy mums produce quick and healthy meals for children.
Graham MacGreggor, chairman of CASH and professor of cardiovascular medicine at St George's Hospital, has criticised the food industry for failing to provide tasty products for children with less salt and fat content.
In an ideal world parents should be cooking natural, fresh food at home, however, professor MacGreggor agrees that this is unrealistic in a modern world.
"They [people] need to cut back not only themselves, but particularly in children, because that's when disease of the arteries start; early in childhood. If you can stop it in its tracks then that is the best way of preventing it," he explained.
"[A working mum] needs to be able to buy a product, put it in the microwave and have a meal for the kids in ten minutes. What she needs is the food industry to help her by producing really good products that are tasty, with far less salt and fat, and with more vegetables in. This can be done quite easily, and not at an increased cost either," he added.
According to the UK government's Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition, four to six year-olds should eat no more than three grams of salt a day - half the adult limit, while one to three year-olds should have no more than two grams a day.
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