Popular Christmas-themed food sold by supermarkets, coffee shops and fast food outlets can contain "shocking" amounts of salt which can pose serious health risks, a health group has warned.
A survey of of 87 products including turkey sandwiches, burgers, salads, pies, desserts and crisps from high street retailers' festive ranges also found that consumers were often in the dark because of poor labelling and nutritional information.
Research by Consensus Action on Salt and Health (Cash) singled out the Christmas 'full works sandwich' on sale at popular sandwich chain Eat as the product with the highest level of salt overall. It contained a massive 4.2g salt per portion - over two-thirds of the daily maximum salt intake for adults.
The 'festive menu' on sale at McDonald's consisting of a cheese and bacon burger with a side dish of cheese melt wedges and "festive dip" contains 6.1g of salt - more than the entire adult daily recommendation for an adult and over double that for a child. The wedges alone contain 2.8g salt per 100g making them saltier than seawater.
Even Eat's supposedly healthy salads can contain high levels of salt. Its Christmas Box Christmas Lunch, which contains a pork pie, has 3g of salt per portion - the equivalent of six packets of crisps.
The lowest salt sandwiches on offer from coffee shops were the Starbucks turkey feast sandwich, Costa brie & cranberry panini and Caffe Nero cheddar and festive chutney sandwich - all containing 1.8g salt per portion. Sainsbury's Christmas line features a smoked turkey and cranberry sandwich with just 1.05g salt per portion – a quarter of the Eat product.
Even desserts were surprisingly high in salt. A Costa Christmas chocolate cake has 0.94g salt per portion, for example - the equivalent of nearly two packets of crisps.
The recommended maximum intake for salt is 6g a day for adults and 3g for children aged four to six years but Cash said that even finding out how much salt is in the products was difficult because of poor labelling. The supermarkets were leading the way with more clear and comprehensive front of pack labelling, it said.
Katharine Jenner, nutritionist and Cash campaign manager, said: "Festive themed food is a lovely way of getting in the Christmas spirit. But this survey highlights how much salt could be hiding in your food without you even knowing it. The level of salt seen in some of the products is particularly shocking when you consider that many children may be eating these products. Regularly consuming a high-salt diet from a young age can put your health at risk. To offer new high-salt options on the menu when the nation is trying to reduce their salt intake is quite simply irresponsible."
Professor Graham MacGregor of Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, and Cash chairman added: "Salt puts up our blood pressure, which is the major risk factor for strokes, heart failure and heart disease, the leading causes of death and disability in the UK. It is shocking to see so many new products so high in salt."
In a statement, McDonald's said its festive menu was an adult meal "positioned as an indulgent treat over the Christmas period". It added: "We have worked very hard over recent years to make significant reductions in salt levels most of our permanent menu items - reducing salt in Chicken McNuggets by 30%, French Fries by 24% and ketchup by 23%."
A spokeswoman for Costa said: "Everyone enjoys spoiling themselves a little over the festive period. At Costa we seek to provide our customers with a wide selection of food products to choose from and carry both healthy and indulgent products across our range all year round."
