Relationship of salt added during preparation and salt intake of cooks
Abstract Introduction The excessive consumption of sodium is one of the main problems in public health and responsible for the loss of years of a healthy life. The salt added to the meals represents a large part of the salt ingested, and the collaborators/cooks responsible for its addition need careful analysis, and intervention adjusted to the analysed reality, its salt consumption and its perception of saltiness may influence the amount of salt added. Objectives This study had as main objective to perceive the relationship between the perception of salt of the employees of the Food and Nutrition Unit and the amount of salt added in the meals that were confectioned. Methodology An observational, analytical, cross-sectional study was conducted, in which 6 selected cooks from the IPSS’s of Águeda participated. In order to estimate the amount of salt added to the meals, 20 samples of meals prepared by the cooks were taken, and a quantitative assessment of average salt per meal was made using Flame Photometry. The cooks were also subjected to two taste sensitivity tests. The data treatment was performed using the statistical software SPSS, and a statistical significance level of 5% was considered. Results A better perception of the salty taste was observed in the cooks of Institution B. Although there were no differences with statistical significance in the quantity of salt of the meals between the two institutions, the mean and maximum addition of salt in the cooked meals was higher in institution B, regardless of the cook evaluated. Conclusion The perception of the salty taste of the cooks does not seem to determine the amount of salt added to the meals.