Healthier kebabs a no brainer for fast food chain Ali Baba

FAST food chain Ali Baba will halve the sodium levels in its recipes by next year after it was revealed one of its kebabs contains nearly the same amount of salt as the recommended full daily intake.

The company plans to reduce sodium in its core products by 30 per cent within two months – and up to 50 per cent across their entire menu by the middle of next year.

The news comes after The Daily Telegraph’s Public Defender highlighted the fact that kebabs now contain 5.4g of salt, just short of the total recommended daily intake for adults.

“We are using a natural sea salt with 65 per cent less sodium than table salt that will not compromise our flavour profiles,” national operations manager Dominic Cain said.

“We feel it’s important to reduce sodium levels due to the role of sodium in hypertension and other chronic illnesses.”

George Institute for International Health senior director Professor Bruce Neal yesterday supported the move.

“This product is indeed a low-sodium salt substitute, with much reduced sodium. I’d be interested to know how they make it as no sea salt I know has ‘naturally’ occurring levels of potassium this high,” he said.

“We need more action like this across the board. What fast-food outlets are offering is healthy alternatives, such as cups of raw vegetables. They’re great but people just won’t buy them.

“We need fast food outlets not to just offer healthy alternatives but that everything they produce is healthy.”

Hungry Jacks has recently replaced the Aussie Burger, loaded with 3.2g of salt, with the Country Burger, which contains about 1.5g.

In the next few months, sodium will also be reduced in the TenderCrisp Chicken patties and Spicy and Ranch sauces lines.

Meanwhile, Pizza Hut will cut 1 per cent of sodium from its bases and 9 per cent from toppings, after it was revealed a slice of Super Supreme pizza contained 1.39g of salt.

But the cuts are well below the 45 per cent it promised last year.

“The 20 to 45 per cent figure is a global initiative of Yum! Restaurants. We are continuing to work towards a greater reduction in sodium,” a spokeswoman said.

“A key priority for the business is ensuring customers still love the flavour and taste of our pizzas.”

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