The report, conducted by campaign group Consensus Action on Salt and Health, warned: "A popular choice among parents, pesto is often given to young children – making it an even bigger contributor towards their salt intakes as the maximum daily recommended intake is much lower for children. In the long term, this could increase a child’s risk of developing high blood pressure, strokes and heart attacks later in life."
And even more worrying, perhaps, was that the two saltiest pots of pesto in their test actually came from one of the bestselling pesto brands, Sacla.
According to The Telegraph, the amount of salt in pesto is rising with the average serving now containing 1.5g of salt, recent research has found, actually overtaking McDonald's hamburgers which contain 1.2g, and this is equivalent to half of a 4 to 6-year-old child's 3g daily salt allowance according to the NHS.
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