“Healthy” grocery chains pack their meals with as much salt as 30 bags of chips

Popular fast-food chains have packed as much salt as 30 bags of Walkers chips into some of their meals — but not the chains you might think.

Researchers for the Daily Mail found dishes in “healthy” High Street restaurants containing huge amounts of salt, including one by Japanese grocery chain Wagamama with almost double the NHS recommended daily salt limit of six grams.

Wagamama, which has 164 locations across the UK, boasts of its “obsession with fresh food”, but the chain’s gyoza ramen dish with chicken contains a whopping 10.12 grams of salt – the equivalent of 30 packs of Walkers Ready Salted at 0.34 grams per bag. Meanwhile, the “Chicken” vegan teriyaki ramen selection contains 7.96 grams of salt, which is equivalent to 23 bags.

Rival Wasabi, which runs 47 British restaurants, boasts a “healthy lunchtime alternative to the humble sandwich”.

But a large vegan Chi’king Katsu Curry Yakisoba on the chain has an equally high 9.4 grams of salt.

The World Health Organization warns that too much salt is just as harmful as smoking and can cause high blood pressure, heart disease and stroke. Japanese street food chain Yo Sushi, which has 70 outlets across the UK, also adds 6.2 grams of salt to its vegetable gyoza and shiitake mushrooms. And diners at Itsu’s 74 restaurants use nearly six grams of salt in some dishes.

And that’s despite the fact that the chain boasts about serving dishes labeled “Health and Happiness.”

Clare Thornton-Wood of the British Dietetic Association said: “Meals from these chains would often be perceived as ‘healthy’ using vegetables and plant-based protein sources or lean meat, but the salt levels mean they are a lot less healthy than they appear. ‘

Sonia Pombo, campaign director and nutritionist at Action on Salt, said: “It is shocking that these meals are excessively high in salt, meaning an adult can have their maximum daily recommended salt intake in just one meal without even knowing it . Despite the overwhelming health effects, many companies seem to have forgotten that too much salt is deadly.”

“Now is the time for the food industry to act and improve the nutritional quality of the food they sell, and when they cannot voluntarily do so, the government must step in and legislate for the benefit of our health.”

A spokesperson for Wasabi said it offers a wide range of low-salt dishes, and Julian Metcalfe, founder of Itsu, added: “Good food is about balance; Asian foods are among the healthiest in the world, despite their high salt content, which usually comes from miso and seaweed, both of which are considered healthy ingredients.

‘We offer low-sodium soy sauce to all of our customers.’ Yo Sushi said it has improved sodium levels in its products. Wagamama did not comment.