Ulaanbaatar
Mongolians consume 2.5 times higher salt
Society
Ulaanbaatar/MONTSAME/ The Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry (MFALI) is organizing a two-year action titled ‘Let’s support productions of low salt products’ with a purpose to reduce salt consumption amongst population. The action focuses on reducing salt content in the products, formulating regulations and standards on salt consumption and taking effective measures to reduce salt intake of people.
A meeting was held on January 11 to introduce the action to food producers and businesses. More than 150 people from the MFALI, Ministry of Health and entities participated in the event.
The World Health Organization recommends that people consume no more than 5-6 grams of salt per day. However, a survey carried out in Mongolia found that on average, people are consuming two-fold higher or around 11.5 grams of salt. Also, the salt consumption differs among aimags, for instance average daily salt intake is higher or 15 grams in western aimags such as Uvs, Khovd and Bayan-Ulgii, whilst it is 7.7 grams in Dornod and Sukhbaatar aimags.
At the meeting, B.Enkhtungalag, scientific worker of the National Center for Social Health, stressed that higher salt intake causes non-communicable diseases such as hypertension, cardiovascular disease, heart attack and cerebral apoplexy and 77 percent of the total death toll amongst population. Thus, it necessitates reduction of salt consumption amongst population.
“The Government resolution, approved in 2015, states to reduce salt consumption amongst Mongolians by 30 percent by 2025. To achieve the purpose, salt contents of food products produced at industries and catering services need to be reduced by 40 percent. Some private companies are implementing it in their operations. For instance, Talkh Chikher JSC, the leading manufacturer in food industry in Mongolia, has reduced the salt content in its 10 types of products. Moreover, ‘Makh Market’ LLC, one of leading producer of meat and meat products, reduced the salt content in its 3 types of products by 40-60 percent,” she added.
M. Unurzul
