Country targets
- Sodium: No mandatory targets as of 2022, some targets currently in planning stages
- Sugar: No targets
- Saturated fat: No targets
Sodium:
Packaged food sampling
Number of products sampled: 1,313
Date collected: July 2015 – February 2016
Nutrient types: sodium
Methods
Data on packaged food in Ecuador 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.
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
Dra. Johana Ortiz, PhD
Professor, University of Cuenca
johana.ortiz@ucuenca.edu.ec
Institution leading data collection
Latin American Network of Food Composition Data System (LATINFOODS)