Sodium in Canadian processed foods between 2010 and 2020: implications for future sodium reduction initiatives

To assess changes in (1) Na content of processed foods in the Canadian food supply and (2) the proportion of products meeting Health Canada's voluntary Na reduction targets (SRT) between 2010 and 2020.

This repeated, cross-sectional study used foods from the 2010 (n 6929), 2013 (n 9366), 2017 (n 10 324) and 2020 (n 15 797) collections of the University of Toronto's Food Label Information and Price database, categorised into Health Canada's Na categories. Quantile regression was used to assess changes in Na content. Firth's bias-reduced logistic regression was used to evaluate changes in the proportion of foods meeting the SRT, and trends were assessed with Cochran-Armitage tests.

Canada.

Processed foods.

Between 2010 and 2020, 54 % (7/13) of major categories had a left shift (reduction) in their Na distribution, 15 % (2/13) had a right shift (increase), 15 % (2/13) had both a left and right shift and 15 % (2/13) did not change. The proportion of products meeting the average targets and maximum levels increased 6 % and 4 % from 2010 to 2013 and 4 % and 3 % from 2013 to 2017, then decreased 3 % and 1 % between 2017 and 2020, with trends for improvement over time (P-trend < 0·001).

Although many categories decreased in Na, some did not change or increased in Na and improvements in the proportion of products meeting the SRT were modest and occurred early on. Further actions, such as implementing accountability initiatives that promote industry adherence to voluntary SRT or introducing mandatory measures, alongside frequent and transparent monitoring are needed to reduce Na in processed foods in Canada.