Contributions of foods to sodium in the Australian food supply.

The sodium contributions of various foods in the Australian supply have been calculated by applying recent local food composition data to food availability data and to typical notional Australian diets. Sodium available for consumption from the food supply was 3.00 g per capita per day. Of foods which are salted during processing, the three heaviest contributors of sodium were bread (23 per cent of total available sodium), processed meat and fish (14 per cent), and margarine (8 per cent). Other important contributors were breakfast cereals, biscuits, cheese, butter, potato crisps, dried soups and cakes (including pastries, pies and puddings). Foods identified by health authorities as 'highly salted' and thus prime targets for reduced consumption, provided 33 per cent of total available sodium, less than the 50 per cent contributed by other foods salted during processing. Take-away foods per se did not contribute more sodium than processed foods generally.