Implementation of the EU Salt Reduction Framework
In September 2008, the European Commission invited the High Level Group members to inform on their on-going or planned national salt reduction initiatives. All EU Member States, Norway and Switzerland responded to the survey. On 21 October 2009, the European Commission organised a seminar on salt reduction in bread, including technical, taste and other parameters for healthy eating; inviting national and EU level bakery associations. The International Federation of Plant Bakeries (AIBI) signaled that it was willing to be a partner in salt reduction initiatives. Within the Salt Framework, it was agreed that by the end of 2009, participating Member States would provide a first evaluation and monitoring report to the Commission. In order to gather this information, the Directorate-General for Health and Consumers of the European Commission sent out questionnaires early 2010 to assess such data and information. The results of this survey were set out in a report published in the beginning of 2012. On 8 June 2010, the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council adopted Conclusions on action to reduce population salt intake for better health. Following the mandate of the Council to analyse the situation and actions taken in the EU and its Member States and report the findings in 2012, the Commission compiled this report. By updating the first report that covered the first one and a half years of the Framework, the present report covers the entire time span – 4 years – of the Framework, from mid-2008 until mid-2012.