507 Bulletin UASVM Agriculture, 68(2)/2011 Print ISSN 1843-5246; Electronic ISSN 1843-5386 Reformulation of Romanian Meat Products and Cheeses: is this a Necessity for a Lower Salt Intake? Corina-Aurelia ZUGRAVU 1) , Monica PARVU 2) , Monica TARCEA 3) , Daniela PATRASCU 1) , Anca STOIAN-PANTEA 1) 1) University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Carol Davila” Bucuresti, Romania 2) Faculty “Spiru Haret” 3) University of Medicine Targu Mures, Romania email:dr_corinazugravu@yahoo.com Abstract: Reducing salt is a major task for companies all over the world. Scientific evidence has linked excessive salt consumption to increased risk of high blood pressure. The question we tried to answer to is if meat products and cheeses need to be reformulated, in order to bring down their salt content, taking in account the daily intake of cold cuts and diary products in our country. The intake was assessed by 7-days food diaries, completed by a representative sample of Romanians. The values used for the salt content were computed from data gathered in Romania since 2007. The average value of salt for Romanian cheeses is 2.4 g /100 g and for meat products, 2, 2 g /100 g. The food diaries showed that meat products and cheeses cover low percents of the daily salt intake (4%; 4%), with little variations between regions of the country. The present study concludes that cheeses and cold cuts, although consumed in all Romanian regions, have not a great contribution to the total salt intake in our country, so reformulation is not an emergency. However, the producers have to target in future a better management of the use of salt in the food chains, in the frame of advised descendent trends of the salt quantity introduced in human food. It has to be kept in mind that as long as the technological process allows it, every milligram of salt taken away from the product `s recipe is a helper of the consumer `s health. Keywords: salt intake, meat products, cheese, blood hypertension, reformulation. INTRODUCTION .Average consumption of salt in most European and North American countries is 10g a day, and the difference between highest and lowest intake levels is around 5g. The WHO advises that adults consume no more than 5g per day, but main governments consider 6g to be a realistic target. (WHO, 2006) Recently, a new meta-analysis, conducted by researchers at Warwick and Naples Universities looked at the results of 13 published prospective studies on habitual salt intake and stroke and cardiovascular disease rates in the US, Finland, Japan, The Netherlands, Scotland and Taiwan. Altogether the studies included some 170 000 people. (Strazzullo et al, 2009) After taking into account differences in study design and quality, they concluded that a 5g reduction in salt intake at the population is associated with a 23 % difference in stroke rates, and a 17 % difference in total cardiovascular disease. The researchers estimated that eating less salt could avert 1.25 million deaths from stroke and almost 3million deaths from cardiovascular disease – and these projections are seen as conservative because of imprecision in assessing salt intake.