Jamie Oliver blasted as his food range is found to be laden with salt

Jul 6 2008 By Lynn Mcpherson

JAMIE Oliver's pasta sauces are TWICE as salty as the Turkey Twizzlers he tried to ban, experts have revealed.

A study found the TV chef's range of jarred sauces contained so much salt they would be banned for primary school kids.

One hundred grams of dad-of-two Jamie's spicy, olive, garlic and tomato sauce contains 3g of salt - the recommended daily maximum intake for a child.

That is six times as much as many rivals and twice asmuch as the Turkey Twizzlers which were his main target in his bid to reform school meals.

Other products in Jamie's range, which is widely sold in supermarkets, also have significantly higher salt than rival sauces.

One eminent nutritional expert said he was shocked at the salt content of the sauces, and revealed that a jar of the olive, garlic and tomato sauce contained 20 per cent more salt than Atlantic seawater.

Dr Graham MacGregor, professor of cardiovascular medicine at St George's Hospital, London, also chairs the pressure group Consensus Action on Salt and Health.

He said: "It is deeply disappointing that Jamie appears to be unaware of the dangers of eating too much salt.

"Both adults and children who eat large quantities of these types of food are much more likely to develop high blood pressure later in life and suffer unnecessary strokes and heart attacks."

In the publicity for his range of sauces, which are produced in Italy, Jamie said: "It is all about offering exciting flavours using great quality ingredients at decent prices.

"I want to get people excited about pasta and sauce, to get their tastebuds going."

Aspokesman for the chef last night said: "These sauces are designed to be eaten in the Italian way - one jar with at least 500g of pasta, feeding four to six people.

"Because they are more concentrated than rivals you don't need as much and the salt content is dissipated. We are now looking at changing our labelling to make this clearer to consumers."

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