WHO South-East Asia Region Sodium Benchmarks for Packaged Foods
Overview
In 2021, the World Health Organization (WHO) released global sodium benchmarks for 58 commonly consumed packaged food categories.3 Benchmark sodium values for each food category were selected based on the lowest maximum value from existing national or regional targets. The global sodium benchmarks provide substantial guidance for countries to establish sodium targets for packaged foods. However, they do not include a comprehensive list of foods consumed in South-East Asia countries nor account for current sodium levels in packaged foods found in the Region.
Therefore, the global benchmarks were reviewed to assess if they included sources of packaged food sources of sodium in South-East Asia and if the benchmark levels were appropriate. The purpose of tailoring the WHO global sodium benchmarks to the South-East Asia is to support countries in the Region to adopt sodium reformulation targets and accelerate the target setting process and promote reformulation of products to lower sodium contents. Based on the information, adaptations were made, and additional benchmarks established where necessary. This will help ensure that any future targets implemented in countries in the South-East Asia Region are feasible to achieve and result in meaningful reductions in population sodium intakes.
The implementation of sodium reformulation targets for packaged foods should be considered within a broader suite of complementary policy actions to support healthy and sustainable diets. These include front of pack labelling (FoPL), fiscal policies, regulation of nutrition and health claims and reformulation of foods to a better profile with regard to nutrients of concern.4 Salt reduction strategies should also be considered within the context of fortification strategies that rely on salt as a vehicle (e.g. iodine). Iodine fortification requirements may need to be adjusted upwards when significant population salt reduction is achieved.
The setting of global sodium benchmarks is, therefore, an important action to drive forward progress in sodium reduction. Setting sodium reformulation targets for packaged foods have several advantages over other policies, such as FoPL. FoPL focus on multiple nutrients, but sodium reformulation benchmarks specifically target sodium reduction and drive sodium reduction in specific food categories that have high sodium content and/or a high sodium contribution.
