Experts at the Action on Salt lobbying group have released a study showing that Chinese takeaways and ready meals contain shockingly high levels of salt, prompting a call for clear front-of-pack health warning labels.

The Guardian reported that certain ready meals were said to contain as much salt as ‘five McDonalds BigMacs’, which at 11.5 grams equals 190% of an adult’s reference intake, based on McDonalds reference intake (RI) calculations. Other meals reportedly contained over 50% of an adult’s daily recommended allowance for sodium.

The pressure group is urging the UK Government to implement health labelling and ensure all restaurants put warnings on meals with high sodium content and encourage salt reduction targets.

The report also urged people to use less soy sauce, which contains five times as much salt as seawater.

Action on Salt chair and professor of cardiovascular medicine Graham McGregor said: “Salt is the forgotten killer as it puts up our blood pressure, leading to tens of thousands of unnecessary strokes, heart failure and heart attacks every year.

“Reducing salt is the most cost effective measure to reduce the number of people dying or suffering from strokes or heart disease. We are now calling on Public Health England to take immediate action.”

"Reducing salt is the most cost effective measure to reduce the number of people dying or suffering from strokes or heart disease. We are now calling on Public Health England to take immediate action."

In the report, the researchers analysed 141 Chinese ready meals and found that 43% contained enough salt to trigger a red ‘traffic light’ label–more than 1.5g/100g or 1.8g per portion.

Some of the worst offenders were Iceland’s Slimming World Chinese Style Banquet Rice (4.4g/550g); Marks and Spencer Crispy Sweet & Sour Chicken Banquet (4.13g/500g) and Sainsbury’s Beef in Black Bean Sauce with Egg Fried Rice (3.95g/450g).

The researchers also compared dishes from six Chinese restaurants and discovered that 97% contained more than 2g of salt, while 58% contained over 3g per meal.

In conjunction with salt awareness week 2018, the organisation called on Public Health England to encourage reductions of sodium in UK foods, which have not been renewed since 2014.

Blood Pressure UK marketing executive Hemini Bharadia suggested the results were worrying, saying: “We are all eating too much salt. This can lead to high blood pressure causing strokes and heart attacks, most of which could be avoided through better lifestyle choices.”