Two of Bradford-based Morrisons' own-brand cereals are among the worst offenders for high levels of salt and sugar, research revealed today.

The supermarket firm's Golden Puffs have been given a red rating for containing the highest amount of sugar at 55g per 100g and, despite healthy images, Morrisons' Right Balance and Kellogg's All-Bran had the highest amount of salt per suggested portion size.

Researchers for Which? looked at 275 different types of cereals from a range of retailers and manufacturers.

It looked at the amounts of sugar, salt and fat they contain and categorised them as red, amber and green according to the Food Standards Agency (FSA) proposed criteria for traffic light labelling.

More than three quarters (76 per cent) of the cereals had high levels of sugar, a fifth (19 per cent) had high levels of salt and seven per cent had high levels of saturated fats.

The Food Standards Agency recommends adults should eat no more than 6g of salt a day and babies and children should eat only a very small amount.

Too much salt in the diet can cause high blood pressure which carries an increased risk of developing heart disease and stroke. Cutting down on salt can help lower blood pressure within weeks.

Although fat content was generally medium to low, one of the worst offenders was Sainsbury's Crunchy Oat Cereal which contains almost the as much fat as the supermarket's thick pork sausages at 20.3g per 100g.

Jordan's Country Crisp Four Nut Combo also had high fat levels at 28.5g per 100g - with its suggested serving containing about the same amount of fat as a McDonald's McBacon Roll.

Three cereals contain 4g of saturated fat per suggested serving - the equivalent of eating two fried eggs.

They are Asda Hawaiian Crunch, Sainsbury's Crunchy Oat and Asda Passion Fruit Crisp.

Sue Davies, chief policy adviser at Which? said: "While manufacturers have made some efforts to reduce the salt levels in their breakfast cereals, we still found lots of products with high levels of salt as well as high levels of sugar.

"And with so much public concern about obesity and diet-related disease we're particularly concerned that most cereals marketed to children are still high in sugar and many are high in salt too.

"We want manufacturers to make further cuts to salt levels, reduce fat (including saturates) and sugar and remove all unnecessary trans fats, as well as marketing their products more responsibly.

"They can also help consumers make easier, healthier choices by applying the FSA's traffic light labelling system to their products.

"That way people can identify cereals high in fat, salt and sugar at a glance."

A Morrisons spokesman said: "We have an active salt reduction programme for own brand products and we continue to make progressive reductions across the key categories highlighted by the FSA.

"We have already made significant progress in certain areas and our breakfast cereal range is being addressed as part of this programme.

"We are currently working with our supplier to develop a lower sugar version of Morrisons Golden Puffs which will be introduced as soon as possible."

e-mail: claire.lomax@bradford.newsquest.co.uk

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