REDUCING the use of salt in every household has remained a challenge for the Ministry of Health but improvements have started to surface since the introduction of the reducing salt intake campaign launched a few years ago.
MOH non-communicable diseases adviser Doctor Isimeli Tukana said it would be difficult to convince people to eat less salt but eat more healthy food like vegetables and fruits.
"It is one of the hardest things — to get people to stop using salt or to stop buying products that have high level of sodium in them. These are what we call hidden salts and many people have gotten used to consuming these products. That's why we went to the source of the products and that is the large processing companies that manufacture these products," he said.
Dr Tukana also said one of the positive outcomes of the ministry's initiative to engage food manufacturers was that some had agreed to gradually reduce their salt production over a period of time.
"Companies like FMF have agreed to reduce their salt production or salt content within their products. This is one of the ways we are looking at to reduce salt usage in the country," he said.
Dr Tukana said an extensive campaign to rid junk and unhealthy food from school canteens was also underway.