Chinese food should come with a health warning, British campaigners warn as research shows some dishes contain five times more salt than a Big Mac.
Analysis of London Chinatown takeaway menus showed that the beef with black bean sauce is the worst offender, with more than six grams of salt per serving, equivalent to an adult's total recommended daily allowance. When served with egg fried rice, which also contains up to five grams of salt per portion, the total salt content rises to 11.5g, or twice the recommended daily limit.
By contrast a McDonald's Big Mac contains just 2.3g of salt, which is still around a third of the recommended healthy limit.
The report, by campaign group Action on Salt, contained good news for fans of sweet and sour chicken, which was found to be the least salty dish, with around 2.3g of salt per portion.
Eating too much salt has been linked to degenerative health conditions including heart disease. In a bid to combat over-consumption the Government has set salt reduction targets for food producers, however they will not stretch to small takeaways.
The research also looked at supermarket ready meals and found that the saltiest Chinese dish was Slimming World’s Chinese Style Banquet Rice, which contained 4.4g of salt per pack. It also advised consumers to exercise caution when adding soy sauce to meals, as it is over five times saltier than seawater.
In 2016, Public Health England assumed responsibility for the UK's salt reduction targets, but since then Action on Salt claims there has been "little action". It has not yet published a progress report on whether the last set of salt targets, due to be met by the end of 2017.
