Analytical Report - Sandwich fillings

NOTE: the levels of salt in food that represent a "lot" and a "little" have been changed since this report was completed.

Salt is High where there is more than 1.5g salt (0.6g sodium) per 100g
Salt is Low where there is 0.3g salt or less (0.1g sodium) per 100g

Introduction

Sandwiches have been regularly sampled by Kent Trading Standards which has revealed a number of labelling errors such as percentage ingredient declarations. Sandwiches are usually made by hand, in fairly small batches, and the ingredients are not homogeneous, so percentage declarations are often wildly inaccurate. More recently, there has been some concern regarding the high levels of salt in many pre-packed sandwiches. For this reason sandwich fillings, which are now popular for consumers to easily make up there own sandwiches, were selected for analysis. The analysis therefore focussed on salt and fat content of the fillings themselves but also on the overall results when the filling is made up as a sandwich. In this way, it would be possible to see if the fillings sold by retailers were similar to those used to prepare sandwiches commercially.

Forty one products of a variety of flavours were sampled e.g. cheese and onion, tune and mayonnaise, egg and bacon, prawn mayonnaise.

Summary of Results

Eight of the filling failed to give a sufficiently accurate fat declaration and two samples declared salt inaccurately.

The results of the final sandwiches made up using the fillings showed that in some cases had a lot of salt and/or a lot of fat. Products with 20g or more of fat per 100g are considered high in fat and 0.5g or over of sodium per 100g are high in salt. Of the 41 'theoretical sandwiches', 7 contained high levels of fat (20g or over), 19 had high levels of salt (1.25g of sodium) and 5 had high levels of both fat and salt. The highest fat levels were found in fillings containing cheese.

Many of the fillings use mayonnaise for taste and to bind the ingredients together but mayonnaise is typically a high fat product. Some of the samples included 'reduced fat ' versions and other products aimed at those seeking a healthier diet. These were found to contain less fat than other standard fillings, but they are still not a low fat option.

Consumers are advised to read the label to check the levels of salt and fat. There are also some tips to keep salt and fat to a minimum when making up sandwiches at home

• Don't add extra fat by using butter or margarine as the filling is likely to be moist enough
• If you really want to use a spread, try a low fat version which can be used direct from the fridge so you can spread it thinly.
• Don't add extra salt. These fillings have already been seasoned with salt.
• Use less of the prepared filling by bulking the sandwich out with salad e.g. lettuce, cucumber and tomato

Report Date: January 2005