Salt shakers in Stockport are being removed from the table tops and counters at local cafes, fish and chip shops and curry houses as a new health drive will mean that customers will have to ask for salt if they want it.
There have already been five shops that have signed up for the ‘out of sight, out of mind’ scheme, including Taylor’s Fish and Chips in Woodley. The manager of Taylor’s Anne Wallace believes that many customers ask for salt without thinking.
She said: “We just wanted people to stop and think. Don’t just shake it for the sake of it.”
Gatley Tandoori, Chilli Massala and Last Monsoon in Edgeley and Startpoint cafe in Woodley are the other food outlets that have signed up to the new scheme.
The scheme us part of the Stockport council-backed ASK campaign, will aims to cut excessive salt consumption, which has links with high blood pressure, stomach cancer and asthma.
Companies that wish to take part in the campaign will display an ASK symbol in the windows of their premises.
However, this is not the first time that Stockport Council have attempted to change fast food habits. In 2009, they reduced the number of holes in salt shakers in cafes from 17 to 5.
Health campaigners and celebrity chef Paul Heathcote welcomed the scheme, but others, such as Stockport’s Conservative group leader, Les Jones, said that it created a ‘nanny town’.
He said: “British people don’t like being ordered around. If you actually want people to use more salt, then tell them not to. It’s a foolish thing to do.”