Reducing sodium in our menus one packet at a time

Our salt packets contain about 388 mg of sodium each

To meet national guidelines to reduce the sodium intake of Canadians, the BC Ministry of Health has been working together with BC’s health authorities to reduce the sodium content of meals provided in health authority owned and operated health care facilities. The aim is to reduce the sodium content of the regular menus by at least 10% each year to achieve the target of 2300 mg of sodium per day by 2016.

So how much sodium is that? To help you imagine, one salt packet provides 388 mg of sodium. The current VCH menu provides approximately 3580 mg of sodium – just shy of ten salt packets worth. The new guideline would see this reduced to just under 6 salt packets worth of sodium by 2016.

To meet this year’s requirement to reduce our menu sodium by 10%, starting February 12 all VCH facilities will no longer provide salt packages at breakfast and lunch. Salt will still be available by request on the meal order form.

This strategy will reduce the sodium content of the menu to approximately 3000 mg per day (about 7.7 salt packets worth). Further steps will be taken in the subsequent three years to achieve the required target of 2300 mg of sodium per day by 2016.