The UAE now has legal limits on salt in bread. On 6 October the Ministry of Health and Prevention began implementing a resolution that caps sodium, sugar and fat in everyday foods, with bread in the first group to comply.
Leavened bread must reach 444mg of sodium per 100g in the first phase and 370mg by 31 December 2030. This is a welcome move. Experts say that bakers can meet the regulation best by cutting salt in small, regular steps, across the whole category at once, so that families keep buying the bread they are familiar with. A limit of 444mg of sodium per 100g equals roughly 1.1g of salt per 100g of bread. The final limit of 370mg equals about 0.93g.
These levels are achievable. Saudi Arabia has capped salt in all bread at 1g per 100g since 2019, under a technical regulation announced by the Saudi Food and Drug Authority on 29 January 2019. In the UK, average salt in bread fell from 1.23g to 0.98g per 100g between 2001 and 2011, a drop of about 20%, according to Queen Mary University of London researchers writing in BMJ Open in 2013. The UAE’s first-phase level sits a little above the average of the British bread in 2011.
Adults worldwide eat about 11g of salt a day, more than twice the recommended maximum of 5g, according to the World Health Organization’s fact sheet updated on 11 May 2026. WHO links an estimated 1.7 million deaths a year to high sodium intake and lists bread among the foods that often carry it. Bread is bought daily in almost every UAE household, so a small change per slice reaches a very large number of meals.
Why small steps work
Salt strengthens the gluten and slows the yeast. A sudden cut changes the bake and the taste together, and regular customers notice within days. A gradual cut gives the production team time to adjust mixing and proving times. It also gives the shopper’s palate the time to adjust.
The best evidence comes from our own region. In Tunisia, 22 bakeries in Bizerte reduced added salt by 10% a month for three months and then kept it at the lower level. Salt in their bread fell from 1.7g to 1.1g per 100g, researchers reported in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health in 2021. About 79% of shoppers rated bread with 30% less salt as normal in taste. Almost all of them noticed a 40% cut. For UAE bakers, the lesson is to move in measured steps and test each stage with real customers. The ministry has built the same thinking into the rule. It describes the resolution as “a national framework to gradually reduce the targeted ingredients”, Khaleej Times reported.
Companies that would need to cut an ingredient by more than 20% to reach the first phase may apply for an exception within 30 days, provided they commit to a 20% reduction during that phase. Products already on the market may stay on sale for up to a year or until expiry.
Moving together
A salt cut delivers its health benefit only when the entire category moves. If one loaf on the shelf tastes saltier than the one beside it, some shoppers will switch, and the gain disappears. Bakers must therefore move at the same pace.
For a manufacturer, the work is practical. Each recipe needs a nutrient profile tested by an accredited laboratory, and each line needs consistent salt dosing, because a plant can hit its average and still miss the limit on a single batch.
Regulators and industry can make the next five years easier for everyone. It would be crucial that the standard laboratory method for measuring sodium in bread is announced, so that every baker tests against the same measure, and to publish market-wide results each year so families can see the progress.
