spss and report

Table 1.3: product subcategories

There were three subcategories of the product which included Chilled meal, ambient meal, and frozen meal. There were 55.1% (n=27) Chilled meals, 40.8% (n=20) ambient meals, and 4.1% (n=2) frozen meals.

Table 1.4: frequencies brand name

There were two brand names included Sainsbury’s and Tesco. There were 25 Sainsbury’s outlets accounting for 51% and 24 Tesco outlets representing the other half.

Table 1.1: frequencies quality range

Across all products, 4.1% (n=2) were basic range quality, 93.9% (n=46) mid-range quality and 2% (n=1) top range quality product.

Group statistics

Independent sample t Test

Table 2: independent T test _ product category

The independent T-test indicated a difference in the salt content t (46) =1.253, p=0.043. The salt g/100g did not differ significantly between Tesco branded products (M=1.49, SD=1.91) and Sainsbury’s branded products (M=0.97, SD=0.93).

The p-value is 0.051 which is less than the level of significance thus we fail to reject the null hypothesis and conclude that there is no significant difference in the means of the salt g/100g in the two groups (Tesco branded products and the Sainsbury’s branded products). In the independent T-test table, the mean difference of the salt content g/100g under the equal variances assumed is 0.54 which is not different from the equal variance not assumed.

Table 3: One-way Anova

Results for One-Way ANOVA for the measure of salt content g/100g

The Chilled meal, ambient meal and frozen meal identified were not significant F (2, 44) = 1.24, p = 0.299. The degree of freedom between the groups is 2, and the degree of freedom within the group is 45. The mean of the Chilled meal is 0.99g and the standard deviation is 0.923. The mean of the ambient meal is 1.65g and the standard deviation is 2.11.

The mean of the frozen meal is 0.55g and the standard deviation is 0.07. The sum of squares between the groups is 5.52 and the sum of squares within the group is 98.03. The p-value is 0.26 which is greater than 0.05 thus we fail to reject the null hypothesis and conclude there is no significant difference in the means of the salt content across the three product subcategories.

Moreover, there is no significant difference between the three subcategories. There is no significant difference in the amount of salt in chilled meals and Ambient meals (p=0.33), there is no difference between the chilled milled and the Frozen meal (p=0.91) and there is no difference between Ambient meals and the Frozen meal (p=0.59).

Table 4:

As represented in the table above, there is one subset. The Ambient meal (M = 1.645), chilled milled (M = 0.994) and frozen meal (M=0.55) fall under one subset. Therefore, the three conditions did not differ from each other.

Figure 1: histogram

There were 4 categories of the products, which include the Chinese ready sources, Chinese ready meals, Japanese ready meals, and Japanese ready sources. According to the survey, the Chinese ready meal is the most product category that was sampled. According to the study, the Chinese ready meal was 85.7%, followed by the Chinese ready sauces which were 8.2% of the total product category, 4.1 % of the Japanese ready meals, and 2 % of the Japanese ready sauces.

According to the literature review, Zhang et al. (2020) in research on Chinese processed foods sodium and general safety levels, argues that Chinese processed foods are among the most popular cuisines in the U.K. In addition, the Chinese foods are four-fold saltier and higher in sodium than in the U.K (Zhang et al,2020). Moreover, it explains why Chinese cuisines interest many stakeholders who seek to investigate their salt levels specially to see if they conform to the F.S.A. 2024 standards. Tan et al., (2019) further agree with the above by discussing that Chinese foods have high salt levels with an average of 13 g per day. Additionally, he explains that Chinese products such as sauces account up to 6% of total salt levels. He et al., (2018) in their research reaffirm the above findings through research on Chinese salt and sodium levels research conducted in 2018-2019. In the study findings, the Chinese foods had more salts than the U.K. foods. Specifically, from the researcher's findings on instant noodles, of 10 sampled, 4 had more salt levels as compared to 2 of the U.K. noodles.

Additionally, 8 out of 11 food groups in China had more salt and sodium content compared to same sampled in the U.K. On average the writer affirms that Chinese products mostly non-processed had 4.5 times more salt than those from U.K. The comparison was done largely on non-processed and large groups of processed foods with little focus on processed foods. Therefore, from the results above, it is true that the Chinese cuisines have more salt content than the Japanese and Thailand meals.

The purpose of the Food standard agencies is to protect public health from risks that may arise in connection with the consumption of food (including risks caused by how it is produced or supplied) and otherwise to protect the interests of consumers concerning food.

Out of the 49 observations surveyed, the Chinese ready meal was 85.7 %.

An independent t test was run where Salt g/100g was used as the dependent variable while product-subcategory was used as the independent variable. $7 observations were used to conduct the T independent t-test which produces 46 observations as the degrees of freedom. The total number of observations in Tesco is 23 while the total number of observations in the Sainsbury’s is 25. The mean of the Tesco is 1.49 with a standard deviation of 1.91, while the mean of is 0.0953 with a mean of 0.953 with a standard deviation of 0.918.

The p-value is 0.051, which is more than the level of significance; thus we fail to reject the null hypothesis and conclude that there is a significant difference in the means of the salt g/100g in the two groups (Tesco and the Sainsbury's). In the independent T-test table, the mean difference of the salt content g/100g under the equal variances assumed is 0.5171 which is not different from the equal variance not assumed.

One-way Anova was ran. The analysis involved three groups: the Chilled meal complete, ambient meal complete, and frozen meal complete. The product subcategory was used as the independent variable and the Salt g/100g was used as the dependent variable. The degrees of freedom between the groups are 2 and the degrees of freedom within the group is 44. The mean of the Chilled meal complete is 0.994, and the standard deviation is 0.923. the mean of ambient meal complete is 1.645 and the standard deviation is 2.11. the mean of the frozen meal complete is 0.537 and the standard deviation is 0.055. the sum of squares between the group is 6.022 g/100g and the sum of squares within the group is 98.031g/100g. The p-value is 0.299 which is greater than 0.05; thus, we fail to reject the null hypothesis and conclude there is no significant difference in the means of the salt content across the three product subcategories.

The minimum amount of salt content in Chilled meal is 0.08 and the maximum amount of salt content in the chilled meal is 4.6 g/100g. The minimum amount of salt content in Ambient meal is 0.2 g/100g and the maximum amount of salt content in Ambient meal is 8.0 g/100g.

The minimum amount of salt content in Frozen meal is 0.08 g/100g and the maximum amount of salt content in frozen meal is 4.6 g/100g.

According to the subsequent Tukey post hoc test, Ambient meal complete has high salt content with a mean of 1.645g/100g then followed by the chilled milled complete which has a mean of 0.994 g/100g and lastly is the Frozen meal complete that has a mean of 0.54 g/100g

According to the literature review, Antúnez et al. (2019) research on the F.S.A. guidelines and standards on foods' sodium (salt) content and the anticipated impact explains various measures. Among the main findings is that there are various sub categories of targets to be met by food manufacturers by 2024. For instance, bacon is 1035 sodium (2.59g of salt) per 100 grams of bacon and 430mg sodium (1.08g salt) per 100 grams of sausages. Tan et al. (2019) on research on the same, support the above findings by further giving more targets as set out by the F.S.A. lists and explains the targets like meat pies with a target of 370 mg sodium (0.93 salt) per 100 gram of meat pie and standard of 320mg sodium (0.8g salt) for meat-based pasties by 2024.

Menyanu, Russell & Charlton (2019) further expound more on the above standards by discussing several such standards and their anticipated importance. Among the foods containing high salt content include pizza, soups, crisps, snacks, and biscuits. Sampling the standards, the target for biscuits is 220 mg sodium (0.55g salt) and for children's main meals is 685 mg sodium (1.71g salt) per 100 mg of their food. The writers further posit that the above targets are part of the campaign started in 2003 by the F.S.A. to reduce salt intake to 6mg per day per person by 2024.

Generally, the Chinese foods have high salt content which is harmful to the bodies of the human beings. According to the Gregor (2018), the high salt content in foods leads to the existence of cardiovascular diseases. High intake of slat foods leads the risk of hypertension that endangers the life of the human being.

CONCLUSION

The research provided a better view of the quantity of salt that is found in the products processed by Chinese and UK products. The aim of the study is to establish the sodium content in Chinese cuisine products and determine if they are in line with the F.S.A 2024 standards. There were two objectives of the study. Firstly, the study was to systematically collect data on sodium levels in processed Chinese products. Secondly, it was to compare the sodium values against the FSA standard on salt content. The research has revealed that Chinese products have a high salt content (g/100g) than in the UK. Therefore, Chinese foods are saltier than UK foods. This research will help the Chinese companies to know the required salt content g/ 100g and adhere to the F.S.A 2024 guidelines and standards on foods’ sodium (salt) content.

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