Abstract
Excessive intake of sodium (salt) may have higher risk of developing hypertension. Untreated high blood pressure can lead to heart attack, stroke and kidney failure, etc. In addition, frequent consumption of too much sugar can lead to dental decay, and also lead to excessive energy (calorie) intake and in turn increase the risk of overweight and obesity. The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) and the Consumer Council (CC) thus have conducted a joint study to examine the nutrient content (including sodium, sugar, energy, etc) of Hong Kong style savoury dishes provided by local food premises, in order to assist the public to make informed choices when eating out as well as to encourage the trade to take actions to reduce sodium content of Hong Kong style savoury dishes.
The Study
- The study covered 10 types (100 samples) of non-prepackaged Hong Kong style savoury dishes collected from Chinese restaurants, local style cafés and fast-food chains during March to April 2017. These samples were tested for the contents of sodium, sugar, total fat, saturated fat, trans fat and energy by the Food Research Laboratory.
Sodium content
- The mean, minimum and maximum sodium contents per 100 g of the 10 types of Hong Kong style savoury dish samples are summarised in the table below. Among the 10 types of Hong Kong style savoury dishes, mean sodium content of “Steamed minced pork patty with salted egg” ranked the highest whereas that of “Pork and pineapple in sweet and sour sauce” ranked the lowest. Three samples of “Steamed minced pork patty with salted egg” were considered high in sodium content (> 600 mg/100 g). No samples of the remaining 9 types of Hong Kong style savoury dishes were found to be high in sodium content.
| HK style savoury dish types | No. of sample | Sodium content (mg/100 g) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mean | Minimum | Maximum | ||
| Steamed minced pork patty with salted egg (鹹蛋蒸肉餅) | 10 | 530 | 240 | 730 |
| Fish fillet in sweet corn sauce (粟米魚塊) | 10 | 450 | 300 | 570 |
| Sauteed French bean with minced pork and Chinese preserved olive (欖菜肉鬆四季豆) | 10 | 450 | 290 | 560 |
| Scrambled egg with shrimp (蝦仁炒蛋) | 10 | 440 | 190 | 560 |
| Eggplant casserole with salted fish and minced pork (魚香茄子煲) | 10 | 370 | 270 | 550 |
| Stir-fried celery with chicken fillet (西芹炒雞柳) | 10 | 370 | 270 | 470 |
| Beef fillet in sweet and sour sauce (中式牛柳) | 10 | 340 | 190 | 460 |
| Stir-fried broccoli with fish fillet (西蘭花炒魚塊) | 10 | 310 | 240 | 390 |
| Broccoli with braised Chinese mushroom (北菇西蘭花) | 10 | 290 | 200 | 460 |
| Pork and pineapple in sweet and sour sauce (菠蘿咕嚕肉) | 10 | 240 | 140 | 360 |
| Overall | 100 | 380 | 140 | 730 |
Sugar content
- The mean, minimum and maximum sugar contents per 100 g of the 10 types of Hong Kong style savoury dish samples are summarised in the table below. Among the 10 types of Hong Kong style savoury dishes, mean sugar content of “Pork and pineapple in sweet and sour sauce” ranked the highest, followed by “Beef fillet in sweet and sour sauce”. As Hong Kong style savoury dishes in general are predominantly salty in taste whilst sweetness is less prominent, the finding that the vast majority of the samples had relatively low sugar content was expected.
| HK style savoury dish types | No. of sample | Sugar content (g/100 g) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mean | Minimum | Maximum | ||
| Pork and pineapple in sweet and sour sauce (菠蘿咕嚕肉) | 10 | 10 | 6.8 | 13 |
| Beef fillet in sweet and sour sauce (中式牛柳) |
10 | 6.9 | 2.3 | 11 |
| Sauteed French bean with minced pork and Chinese preserved olive (欖菜肉鬆四季豆) |
10 | 3.3 | 2.3 | 4.4 |
| Eggplant casserole with salted fish and minced pork (魚香茄子煲) | 10 | 2.7 | 2.1 | 3.3 |
| Broccoli with braised Chinese mushroom (北菇西蘭花) | 10 | 1.5 | 1.1 | 2.1 |
| Steamed minced pork patty with salted egg (鹹蛋蒸肉餅) | 10 | 1.5 | 0.69 | 2.9 |
| Stir-fried celery with chicken fillet (西芹炒雞柳) |
10 | 1.2 | 0.63 | 1.6 |
| Stir-fried broccoli with fish fillet (西蘭花炒魚塊) | 10 | 0.97 | 0.45 | 1.3 |
| Fish fillet in sweet corn sauce (粟米魚塊) |
10 | 0.97 | 0.55 | 1.6 |
| Scrambled egg with shrimp (蝦仁炒蛋) | 10 | 0.27 | 0.18 | 0.42 |
| Overall | 100 | 2.9 | 0.18 | 13 |
Fat and energy contents
- The mean (range) of total fat, saturated fat, trans fat and energy contents per 100 g of the 10 types of Hong Kong style savoury dish samples are summarised in the table below. Among the 10 types of Hong Kong style savoury dishes, mean total fat and energy contents of “Steamed minced pork patty with salted egg” ranked the highest whereas those of “Broccoli with braised Chinese mushroom” ranked the lowest. A total of seven samples (four samples of “Steamed minced pork patty with salted egg”; two samples of “Scrambled egg with shrimp”; and one sample of “Beef fillet in sweet and sour sauce”) were considered high in total fat content (> 20g/100g).
| HK style savoury dish types | No. of sample | Mean (Range) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total fat (g) | Saturated fat (g) | Trans fat (g) | Energy (kcal) | ||
| Steamed minced pork patty with salted egg (鹹蛋蒸肉餅) | 10 | 20(13-30) | 6.5(4.2-11) | 0.089(0.054-0.17) | 250(190-330) |
| Fish fillet in sweet corn sauce (粟米魚塊) | 10 | 10(6.5-13) | 1.3(0.71-2.5) | 0.084(0.037-0.15) | 170(120-200) |
| Sauteed French bean with minced pork and Chinese preserved olive (欖菜肉鬆四季豆) | 10 | 9.7(7.0-13) | 1.7(0.91-2.3) | 0.067(0.025-0.10) | 130(110-160) |
| Scrambled egg with shrimp (蝦仁炒蛋) | 10 | 18(13-30) | 3.1(2.1-4.8) | 0.12(0.068-0.18) | 230(180-330) |
| Eggplant casserole with salted fish and minced pork (魚香茄子煲) | 10 | 13(8.3-18) | 1.8(0.77-3.3) | 0.10(0.04-0.22) | 140(110-190) |
| Stir-fried celery with chicken fillet (西芹炒雞柳) | 10 | 5.8(4.5-7.5) | 0.84(0.62-1.4) | 0.038(0.025-0.057) | 92(74-110) |
| Beef fillet in sweet and sour sauce (中式牛柳) | 10 | 10(2.5-22) | 2.0(0.24-4.9) | 0.23(0.045-0.56) | 170(110-280) |
| Stir-fried broccoli with fish fillet (西蘭花炒魚塊) | 10 | 6.6(4.7-11) | 0.92(0.43-1.9) | 0.042(0.022-0.073) | 110(84-150) |
| Broccoli with braised Chinese mushroom (北菇西蘭花) | 10 | 2.2(0.59-5.0) | 0.25(0.099-0.45) | 0.016(0-0.043) | 48(29-75) |
| Pork and pineapple in sweet and sour sauce (菠蘿咕嚕肉) | 10 | 15(11-18) | 2.8(1.6-4.0) | 0.094(0.054-0.13) | 240(190-280) |
| Overall | 100 | 11(0.59-30) | 2.1(0.099-11) | 0.088(0-0.56) | 160(29-330) |
Comparison against WHO’s recommended daily intake upper limit for sodium
- The study also simulated different scenarios of eating out in local food premises serving Hong Kong style savoury dishes. The results showed that, even with different combinations of Hong Kong style savoury dishes, the sodium intake for the whole meal per person would still far exceed one-third of WHO’s recommendation on daily intake upper limit for sodium. This reflects that the Trade has the responsibility to reduce sodium content of Hong Kong style savoury dishes through reformulating recipes or altering cooking methods, so that consumers can reduce their sodium intake gradually when eating out.
Advice to Consumers
- Certain Hong Kong style savoury dishes with vegetables as the main ingredients were found to have relatively lower sodium content. Consumers may consider ordering these dishes more often to echo with balanced diet principle, i.e. eating more vegetables and less meat, while reducing sodium intake when eating out.
- Ask for “less salt” or “less salty” option of the food when ordering.
- Request soy sauce or other condiments to be served separately, and taste before adding them.
- Beware of the portion size of savoury dishes. Consider ordering less dishes when the portion size is large.
- Take note of the study results, and choose the savoury dishes that suit individual dietary needs.
- Apart from sodium/salt content, other nutrition information such as sugar, fat, energy/calorie contents are also important when choosing healthier savoury dishes.
Advice to the Trade
- Reduce the use of salt or sodium-containing condiments (e.g. oyster sauce, soy sauce, chicken powder, ketchup and Worcester sauce) during marinating and cooking steps; or use more fresh ingredients (e.g. ginger, spring onion and garlic).
- When the use of high-sodium ingredients (e.g. salted egg and preserved vegetable) is required, the amount of salt or other sodium-containing condiments used should be cut down accordingly. If feasible, use smaller amount of these high-sodium ingredients.
- Reduce the amount of sauce in savoury dishes, and avoid adding extra soy sauce before serving. If necessary, serve sauce and condiments in separate containers, and let the consumers decide the amount to be added.
- Apart from providing the standard portion size of savoury dishes, offer savoury dishes in smaller portion size for consumers to choose based on their needs.
- Display nutrition information (particularly energy/calorie, sodium/salt) of savoury dishes on menus, price list and other printed materials.
- Make reference to the CFS’ “Trade Guidelines for Reducing Sodium in Foods” and “Trade Guidelines for Reducing Sugars and Fats in Foods” for producing foods with lower sodium/salt, sugar and fat contents.
More Information
- The related article is published in the CHOICE MAGAZINE (Issue 493) released on 15 November 2017 (Chinese only).
November 2017
Risk Assessment Section
Centre for Food Safety
Food and Environmental Hygiene Department