Day 266 - 20 Jun 96 - Page 15


     
     1        therefore there is little that people can do to influence
     2        their intake.  Thus, any attempts to influence the amount
     3        of salt in food must be directed at the food industry.
     4
     5   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  What are you looking at now?
     6
     7   MS STEEL:  Sorry, the first paragraph of 'salt and blood
     8        pressure revisited'.
     9
    10   MR. MORRIS:  What page is it?
    11        A.   1,240.
    12
    13   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  What I have got, I have a bundle this week in
    14        BMJ, and there are a number of articles.  You are 'salt an
    15        blood pressure revisited' are you?
    16
    17   MS. STEEL:   Yes.
    18
    19   MR. MORRIS:  It is the third page.
    20
    21   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes.
    22
    23   MS. STEEL:  Yes it says, "... with 3 quarters of the presently
    24        consumed salt well hidden in processed food there is little
    25        that people can do to influence their intake.  Thus any
    26        attempts to influence the amount of salt in food must be
    27        directed at the food industry."  Do you have any comment on
    28        that; would you agree with it?
    29        A.   Absolutely, yes.  The food industry is known to use a
    30        lot of salt within their foods.  There have been campaigns
    31        over many years to try and get that reduced.  But, yes, in
    32        order to achieve levels of salt reduction which would
    33        improve peoples' health then the food industry would have
    34        to reduce the amount of salt that it currently uses in its
    35        foods.
    36
    37   Q.   Right.  In processed foods?
    38        A.   In processed foods, yes.  In foods that people buy in
    39        supermarkets and get as take-aways, yes.
    40
    41   Q.   Right.
    42
    43   MR. MORRIS:  Could I ask a question?  The paragraph above 'salt
    44        and blood pressure revisited', at the end of the previous
    45        article by Fiona Godley, the assistant editor of the
    46        British Medical Journal, they are talking about--
    47        A.   What page is that please?
    48
    49   Q.   This is on the same page we were on before, 1,240.  It
    50        says, talking about the paragraph above that talked about
    51        the salt content of food in America declining, "10 to 15
    52        per cent over the past 12 years".  Then it says, "Despite 
    53        these trends, Governments have a tough job ahead.  The
    54        world's food and soft drinks industry spent over £550M in
    55        advertising in 1994".  I think McDonald's advertising
    56        budget is 1.8 billion dollars a year globally last year.
    57
    58             (Continuing to read): "...compared with less than £5M
    59        on promoting fresh fruit and vegetables.  In Britain basic
    60        cooking skills are in decline as processed foods make up

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