But Brown told the FSA board that contamination of horse and pork had also been found at "very low" levels in processed beef.
Surveys by the Center for Science in the Public Interest have found little change in salt levels in processed foods.
A decade ago the government and health advocates began pushing companies to gradually reduce salt levels in processed foods.
In the 1980s, the federal dietary guidelines included an admonishment against excess sodium, and shortly thereafter the Food and Drug Administration called on the food industry to reduce sodium levels in processed foods voluntarily.
But cutting back may be a little easier in the future, thanks to the FDA's recent proposed guidelines to scale down sodium levels in processed and restaurant food.
In January 2007, Bloomberg's commissioner of the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Dr. Thomas R. Frieden pushed for a 10 year plan to cut the sodium levels in processed and pre-packaged foods by 25% twice in two back-to-back five year periods.
In the first scenario, levels in processed foods were reduced toward their technologically feasible minimum level (sodium reduction in processed foods scenario).
Sulphite levels in processed foods are expressed as SO2 equivalents, and range from zero to about 3000 ppm in dry weight.
Additionally, this linkage may be stronger for processed meat than for fresh meat because of the higher NOC and NOC precursor levels in processed meat.
