FSA"s salt campaign | @guardianletters

The Food Requirements Company systematically published surveys of salt in processed foods. Photograph: Brian Jackson/Alamy

The lessons of the Food Specifications Company salt campaign are really worth recalling a lot more accurately if effective measures to tackle obesity are to be deemed. Jeff Rooker (Letters, 13 January) is correct to say it was voluntary and that sector co-operated, but omits to say why that was the case. The FSA systematically published surveys of salt in processed meals that acquired widespread media coverage generating clear the likely adverse health impacts of also considerably salt in the diet. This transparency allowed customers to make their very own choices, forcing retailers and producers to respond. They have been held to account for verifiable changes in the composition of their foods. Some modified willingly, other individuals reluctantly joined as it had turn out to be a aggressive concern. At that time the recollections of BSE and sector capture were still fresh and the FSA was a genuinely independent regulator that put buyers 1st and took action based on scientific evidence. In 2010 duty for nutrition and labelling was transferred to government departments. In the significantly-hyped bonfire of the quangos, a policy that buyers ought to be protected by an company independent of government and sectoral interests also went up in flames.
Neil Martinson
Director of communications, FSA, 2000-06

FSA"s salt campaign | @guardianletters