Delia recipes 'loaded with salt'

Delia Smith's new series uses ready-made ingredients

Campaigners have attacked TV chef Delia Smith over high levels of salt in some recipes in her new book and series "How to Cheat at Cooking".

Consensus Action on Salt and Health (Cash) identifies recipes including "carbonara real quick", containing more than 7g of salt per person.

The recommended daily limit for an adult is 6g.

A BBC spokeswoman said the series highlighted the importance of people watching how much salt they ate.

A spokeswoman for Ms Smith's publishers, Random House, said: "Delia Smith has spent the last couple of years testing out all the best products out there. She is highly conscious of health issues.

It is a real pity that she seems to be unaware of the dangers of eating too much salt Professor Graham MacGregor, Cash

"In the series and in the book, she has tried to explain to people what to look for in ready-made products in terms of quality, taste and health."

Ms Smith's latest series encourages people to mix together ready-made foods rather than cook from scratch with fresh ingredients if they are short of time.

But Cash warns that many of the recommended products are already high in salt - and many recipes call for extra seasoning to be added.

It cites the "very nutritious and very cheap" thick pea and bacon soup, with ingredients containing around 12g of salt to be used to make a serving for two people - plus extra salt to be added during cooking.

"Carbonara real quick" includes ready-cooked crispy bacon and "lots" of pecorino Romano, a particularly salty cheese.

This recipe for two people contains more than 14g of salt, again not including the salt added to the pasta when cooking and the extra salt added to the sauce during preparation.

HIGH-SALT RECIPES Thick pea and bacon soup for two - 12g Carbonara real quick for two - 14g Grilled polenta with sage, ham and melted gruyere for two- 9g Puttanesca presto for four - 15g Vietnamese beef patties with sauce for two - 6g

Grilled polenta with sage, ham and melted gruyere serves two "as a snack" and contains almost 9g of salt.

Puttanesca presto, a pasta dish with olives, anchovies, capers and a jar of ready-made sauce, contains almost 15g salt, plus cooking salt, in a recipe for four.

Professor Graham MacGregor, Cash chairman, said: "Delia Smith is very respected by the public and has great influence over what we cook.

"She has been trusted by millions of people for years to provide easy, everyday recipes.

"It is a real pity that she seems to be unaware of the dangers of eating too much salt and furthermore it seems as if these latest recipes have not been checked for their salt content.

'Cook from scratch"

Professor MacGregor, who is a professor of cardiovascular medicine at St George's Medical School, said many TV chefs and cookery writers used too much salt in their recipes.

Cash says research suggests about 19,000 deaths from stroke and heart attacks could be prevented in the UK each year if the average daily salt intake came down from 9g to 6g.

Carrie Bolt, a nutritionist for Cash, advised: "Cook meals from scratch, using fresh ingredients and adding as little salt as possible."

"If people do want to cook one of Delia's Cheat recipes - and they are not all high in salt - then I would advise them to try the ones that do not feature high-salt ingredients."

A BBC spokeswoman said: "Delia does a lot of food research when developing her recipes and, through the series, explains to viewers about what to look for in a ready-made product in terms of its quality, how it's been prepared and its taste.

"In the series, she visits the Institute of Food Research where they discuss e-numbers and salt content and the importance of people being mindful of a ready-made product's ingredients when making their food choices."