Sodium Content of Commonly Consumed Foods in Argentina

Calliope and Samman investigated the sodium levels in street food, fast food and artisanal food in Northwest Argentina using chemical analysis. To collect information on the types and frequency of food consumed, a survey was administered to a sample of adults. The most commonly consumed street food was hot dogs (25%) and French fries (22%); fast food was Napolitan Milanese (23%) and loin sandwich (19%), and; artisanal food was tamales and cheese empanada (both 15%). The top seven consumed foods from each category were chemically analysed using 9 samples of each food (189 samples in total). They found that the average sodium levels in these foods was 520mg/100g (range: 74-932) for street food, 599mg/100g (range: 371-1093) for fast food  and 575mg/100g (range: 152-1373) for artisanal food. The authors concluded that the average sodium content of the three food categories was high and there was large variability in the food category.