Table 4 Plan of action for salt reduction policy of Malaysia for out-of-home sectors
Strategy | Activity | Indicators | Targets | Lead agency |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Monitoring | Surveillance of Knowledge, Attitude and Practice (KAP) related to salt intake of the population (consumers and parent teacher associations) | A survey conducted every 5 years | Baseline study in 2024 | Institute for Health Behavioural Research (IHBR) |
Surveillance of salt consumption pattern of the population via urine sodium level (24-h urine) and dietary intake | A survey conducted every 5 years | To be incorporated in NHMS 2024 & 2029 | Institute for Public Health (IPH) | |
A study of salt consumption pattern of children and teenagers in school or clinic setting | A survey conducted every 5 years | Pilot study to be conducted by 2027 under 13th Malaysia Plan | Institute for Public Health (IPH) | |
A KAP study of salt intake in food vendors, catering operators and food industries | A survey conducted every 5 years | The first survey to be conducted by 2026 under 13th Malaysia Plan | Institute for Health Behavioural Research (IHBR) | |
A market survey on products (e.g. processed foods, fast foods) to determine the compliance towards achievement of salt reduction strategies: • The salt (sodium) content in processed foods | Number and percentage of products with: • Salt (sodium) content in processed foods | To be conducted by 2027 | Disease Control Division | |
To monitor complaints regarding the non-compliance of sodium labelling via Sistem Pengurusan Aduan Awam (SISPAA), MOH (towards empowering the utilization of digital platform in monitoring salt reduction strategies) | Number of actions taken on the report of sodium labelling non-compliance | All reports on non-compliance of sodium labelling should be acted upon accordingly | Food Safety and Quality Division | |
Awareness | To conduct workshop or training of the trainers’ programme about salt reduction among officers from ministries other than MOH | Number of ToT/workshops conducted | At least once per year | Disease Control Division |
To conduct targeted interventions at specific settings such as schools, universities, workplaces and B40’s community (e.g. collaborate with KOSPEN, KOSPEN WOW) | Number of interventions per year | Minimum one intervention per setting per year | Disease Control Division | |
Product | Product Reformulation & Guidelines | |||
To conduct food reformulation on 14 categories of foods with maximum salt targets | The number of product reformulated | All 14 categories of food have been reformulated by 2025 | Disease Control Division | |
To recommend specific guidelines to reduce salt content in fast food restaurants by incorporating the Best Practices for the Fast-Food Industries. (e.g. salt served separately from French fries) | Preparation of guidelines | To be published by 2025 | Nutrition Division | |
To propose maximum sodium content of 2000 mg/day in daily meals in hospital (in patient) | Number of hospitals | To increase at least 5% per year | Medical Development Division | |
Strengthen and enforce the law | ||||
To propose to include salt content (‘salt’ term to be used) on the labelling in addition to sodium | Compulsory labelling | 2030 | Disease Control Division | |
To enforce compliance towards mandatory salt (sodium) labelling in foods | Number of products labelled for salt/sodium content | 100% of products examined have a sodium label by 2024 | Food Safety and Quality Division | |
To support the gazettement of legislation for maximum salt target for 14 food categories | Number of gazette products | 20% of the 14 food categories are gazetted by 2027 | Food Safety and Quality Division | |
To propose HCL salt target for soy sauce products according to type: (a) ≤ 9% of salt (≤ 4 g of sodium) and ≤ 15 g of sugar for salty soy sauce and (b) ≤ 7% of salt (≤ 3 g of sodium) and ≤ 30 g sugar for sweet soy sauce | Proposal of HCL salt target for salty and sweet soy sauces | HCL salt target will be implemented by 2024 | Disease Control Division | |
To process the Amendment of Malaysian Food Act 1983 (Food Regulation 1985) (1) Soy sauce shall contain not less than 0.4% total nitrogen and 7% salt (2) Maximum salt content: 11% (4.4 g sodium) | Gazettement of the Amendment | Amendment is gazetted by 2027 | Food Safety and Quality Division | |
Recognition | ||||
To propose HCL as one of the criteria for procurement specification of hospital food items | Number of items | To increase at least 5% per year | Procurement & Privatization Division | |
To give recognition and incentives to out-of-home sectors’ food providers such as food industries, food vendors, caterers and other agencies that successfully implement salt reduction strategies e.g. Food industries – premium products; Food vendors – Kantin Contoh, Sekolah Sihat, subsidies to canteen, contract renewal Media – healthy food hunting show (Jalan-Jalan Cari Makan Sihat) | Number of recognitions according to out-of-home food sector category | One for each category per year | Disease Control Division | |