Portugal

Methods

Data was collected in market survey of a nationally representative Portuguese food retail company during 2020 and 2021.  Researchers systematically and sequentially collected information on available packaged foods over a period of six months, followed by a verification to identify any new products that had been introduced. Information on the salt content of eligible foods was collected using photographs entered into forms using the Kobocollect® program, except for packaged white-label brand products, for which the retailer provided a database with salt content obtained through chemical analysis performed by a certified company. Foods were classified into subcategories according to WHO global sodium benchmarks. Products not framed in subcategories with an established benchmark were excluded from the analysis. In total 4086 food products were selected for inclusion in this study. Data analysis was performed using Excel and R Studio by Posit Software, PBC. Median, and minimum, and maximum values were used to describe the sodium content (mg/100 g) of foods by each subcategory.

For more information on the study methodology, please see the data source below.

Data source

Assessment of sodium levels in Portuguese supermarket foods: A global benchmark perspective

Citation: Almeida C, Lopes E, Faria AP, Azevedo J, Padrão P. Assessment of sodium levels in Portuguese supermarket foods: A global benchmark perspective. J Food Compos Anal. 2024

Contact

No contact information available

Institution leading data collection

University of Porto, Portugal