What you need to know about the sodium regulations

In 2013, the Minister of Health signed legislation to make sodium reduction in the food industry mandatory, to help achieve the government’s target of reducing salt intake to less than 5g a day by 2020. This makes South Africa the first country in the world to legislate salt levels to help reduce the amount of salt that the public takes in from processed foods.

What does the regulation entail?

The regulations relating to the reduction of sodium in certain foodstuffs and related matters (R. 1071/2013) set a maximum total sodium content for certain foodstuffs, divided into 13 categories. It had a phased approach whereby there was a maximum content target that had to be reached by end of June 2016 and then a further reduction that had to be reached by end of June 2019.

Since the initial publication, the regulations have been amended twice: The amendment published in 2017 included amendments to the definitions, food categories, the permitted level of sodium per food category and the methodology for testing of total sodium. The most recent amendment published in 2019 revised the food categories for processed meats, cured and uncured as well as raw processed meats.

Which product categories were included?

1. Bread
2. All breakfast cereals and porridges, whether ready-to-eat, instant or cook-up, hot or cold
3. All fat spreads and butter spreads
4. Ready-to-eat savoury snacks, excluding salt-and-vinegar-flavoured savoury snacks
5. Flavoured potato crisps, excluding salt-and-vinegar-flavoured potato crisps
6. Flavoured, ready-to-eat savoury snacks and potato crisps – salt-and-vinegar only
7. Processed meat (classes 1, 4 and 5), where products in category 5 relates to cured as per Annexure 1 (of R. 214)
8. Processed meat (classes 2, 3 and 5) where products in category 5 relates to uncured as per Annexure 1 (of R. 214).
9. Raw-processed meat sausages (all types), and similar products
10. Dry soup powder (not the instant type) including dry soup/stew powders intended to be reconstituted, cooked up and consumed as a soup/stew and/or used to thicken and/or add flavour to any type of savoury dish, where a thickener is a significant ingoing ingredient.
11. Dry gravy powders and savoury sauce powders, including all dry savoury gravy/sauce powders that require cooking or which are of the instant type, used as an accompaniment to a meal.
12. Dry savoury powders with dry instant noodles, to be mixed with a liquid which includes quick cooking Asian style noodles composed primarily of dry noodles with a seasoning sachet.
13. Stock cubes, stock powders, stock granules, stock emulsions, stock pastes and stock jellies which includes concentrated stocks/stew products in various formats used primarily to flavour savoury dishes.

Please see the regulations for the permitted sodium levels for each food category.

What analysis methods are the best to use?

The regulations stipulate that the methodology for measuring sodium in all food categories should be either the Atomic Absorption (AA) or the Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP) method. The samples shall be digested with a microwave digester and not ashing.

Selecting the correct method and taking the food matrix being analysed into consideration will assist a great deal in ensuring that the results being reported are as accurate as possible.

Why does the government want to control sodium consumption in South Africa?

South Africa has one of the highest rates of hypertension worldwide. It is estimated that up to 1 in 3 adults have raised blood-pressure levels. High blood pressure is a key risk factor for heart disease, and the most important risk factor for stroke. Furthermore, high salt intake is an established risk factor for increased blood pressure. South Africans consume too much salt – 6 to 11 grams per day, which is more than double the recommended amount.

What if you import products into South Africa?

All imported products must comply with SA regulations relating to their labelling and composition; therefore, all imported products that fall into one of the categories listed above would also need to comply with the maximum-sodium-level mandate.

For more information on this topic, contact us.