Too much salt in French baguette

TOO much salt is being added to the everyday French baguette, tests carried out by a consumer magazine have found.

60 Millions de Consommateurs analysed 180 loaves from bakeries and supermarkets around France and found 43% of them contained more than the recommended maximum salt limit.

According to the magazine, baguettes should contain less than 1.5% salt. Some of the samples had more than 2%.

The magazine said that although bread was a vital everyday food item in France, it was also among the least regulated and consumers were not being given enough information about the nutritional content of what they were buying.

It has called for a law to be drawn up "to prevent consumers taking in levels of salt that are dangerous to their health without realising".