A quarter of all sliced meats sold in British supermarkets are saltier than seawater, campaigners say.
Action on Salt analysed hundreds of different cuts of ham, poultry and beef available at leading retailers.
They showed one of the worst offenders, Italian prosciutto ham sold by Sainsbury's, was packed with 5.51g of salt per 100g. It means it is approximately 10 times saltier than fries served by fast food giant McDonald's.
For comparison, the Atlantic Ocean has a salt content of around 2.5g per 100g, the campaign group claimed.
A different ham product, sold by Marks and Spencer, had a recommended serving size that would provide 45 per cent of an adult's recommended daily salt intake.
Overall 25 per cent of the 555 meats analysed had at least 2.5g per 100g, including products that could be consumed by children in lunchtime sandwiches.
And two-thirds were defined as being dangerously high in salt, having at least 1.5g per 100g
Action on Salt wants voluntary salt reduction targets to be made compulsory, with penalties for those who refuse to comply.
Eating too much salt can lead to high blood pressure, a dangerous health condition that inflicts extra strain on the arteries and heart.
High blood pressure, which can lead to heart attacks and strokes, kills about 75,000 Britons and 500,000 people in the US every year.
NHS guidelines say that adults should stick to 6g of salt per day, with the limit for children between 2-5g depending on their age.
Action on Salt highlight some of the saltiest products per category in the study. Sainsbury's Italian Prosciutto Crudo Slices, and Spanish Chorizo slices, were some of the high salt content charcuterie meats, with 5.51g and 4.2g of salt per 100g respectively. Tesco Finest Roasted Dry Cured Ham was flagged as a high salt meat with 1.7g per 100g. Adlington Cooked Sliced Free Range British Turkey, sold by Ocado, was highlighted as a high salt poultry product at 2.5g per 100g. When it came to beef, Co-op's Corned Beef was a frontrunner with 1.7g of salt per 100g
This chart shows the percentage of sliced chilled meat products sold by supermarket chains under their own label which meet the UK's salt reduction targets, the number to the right of the bar shows the number of products analysed in the Action on Salt study. Tesco was the front runner with 97 per cent of its product range meeting the targets while Waitrose was well behind the curve with only 7 per cent of its products meeting the guidelines
Action on Salt, working alongside researchers based at the Queen Mary University of London, surveyed products available between June and August 2021.
Products included sliced meats sold by Tesco, Sainsbury's, Ocado, Co-op, Waitrose, Asda, Lidl, Aldi, Morrisons, Iceland, and Marks and Spencer.
The study also found vast variation within product categories.
Adlington Cooked Sliced Free Range British Turkey, a brand sold by Ocado, had 2.5g of salt per 100g.
This was nearly 10 times that of Aldi’s Flame Grilled Chicken Slices, which contained 0.26g per 100g.
Experts also warned portion sizes suggested by some of the brands surveyed could lead to a person consuming high amounts of salt in a single meal.
They singled out M&S's British Wiltshire Roast Ham, which contained 1.73g of salt per recommended portion of three slices.
It means a sandwich made using three slices of that ham would constitute nearly a third of an adult's recommend 6g of salt per day.
And it would equate to over half of the recommended 3g for four-six year olds, and that is before including any additional salt from the bread or sauces.
The researchers also assessed the products by a series of voluntary salt reduction targets produced by the Government for the food industry to aspire to.
These targets state meats like ham should have no more than 1.63g of salt per 100g, whole muscle meats, such as sliced chicken breast, no more than 0.68g, reformed muscles cuts such as chicken breast made from multiple animals, 0.9g, and sliced meats made from other sources such as mince no more than 1.35g.
They are set to achieved by 2024 but are a repetition of previous targets set in 2017, which many producers failed to meet.
The study found a third of 312 products would fail the guidelines.
And the remaining 243 fell outside the remit of the salt reduction targets entirely, being granted an exemption on the basis they are outside of UK jurisdiction, such as Iberian Ham, or use a traditional curing method, such as Wiltshire cured ham.
