Action on Salt (formerly known as Consensus Action on Salt & Health, CASH) is a group concerned with salt and its effects on health, based at Queen Mary University of London and supported by 24 expert scientific members.

Action on Salt was set up in 1996 as a response to the refusal of the Chief Medical Officer to endorse the COMA recommendations to reduce salt intake, following the threat of withdrawal of funds by the food industry to the Conservative Party. This view was contrary to the current medical and scientific consensus and we aim to counter these claims with the wealth of scientific evidence, which clearly links high salt intake to ill health.

The current target is to reduce salt intake to an average of 6g a day for adults and even less for children, from the current average of 8.1g a day.   This reduction will have a large impact on reducing strokes by approximately 22% and heart attacks by 16% saving 17,000 lives in the UK as well as other health benefits for the population.

Action on Salt is successfully working to reach a consensus with the food industry and Government over the harmful effects of a high salt diet, and bring about a reduction in the amount of salt in processed foods as well as salt added to cooking, and the table. To date we have been successful with many supermarkets and food manufacturers choosing to adopt a policy of gradually reducing the salt content of their products, and a Government-financed a campaign to raise awareness of the effects of salt on health.