Costa Rica
Country Targets
- Sodium: In 2019, the Ministry of Health and the Food Industry Chamber of Costa Rica (CACIA) signed the third of a series of agreements with voluntary goals to reduce the level of sodium in various processed foods
- Sugar: No Targets
- Saturated fat: No targets
Sodium:
Packaged Food Sample
- Number of packaged food products: 1224
- Date collected: July 2015- February 2016
- Nutrient type: Sodium
Methods
Data on packaged food in Costa Rica was obtained by research teams from the Latin American Network of Food Composition Data System (LATINFOODS) as part of a larger study from 14 participating countries: Argentina, Barbados, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Guatemala, Jamaica, Mexico, Paraguay, Panama, Peru, and Trinidad and Tobago. Samples were collected from the grocery stores with the greatest market share in each country; nutrition labels were photographed for content. In Costa Rica, 1224 food products were sampled.
Mean, median, standard deviation, interquartile range and minimum and maximum levels were calculated for sodium content (mg/100g) in each of 12 food categories and were used for comparison with the regional target level for sodium.
Data source
Citation: Arcand J, Blanco-Metzler A, Benavides Aguilar K, L’Abbe MR, Legetic B. Sodium Levels in Packaged Foods Sold in 14 Latin American and Caribbean Countries: A Food Label Analysis. Nutrients. 2019;11(2):369. Published 2019 Feb 11. doi:10.3390/nu11020369
Contact
Karla Francela Benavides Aguilar
Title/Role: Consultant, CREA (Control de Registros de Alimentos)
Email: [email protected]
Institution leading data collection
The Latin American Network of Food Composition Data System (LATINFOODS)
