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Sodium content of prepackaged foods in Saudi Arabia: A label-based assessment of alignment with global and national limits

Munirah N. Alsuhaibani, Atheer S. Alragea, Tagreed M. Alfuraih, Faisal F. Binsunaid and 1 more

Journal of Food Composition and Analysis | Aug 16, 2026

Abstract

Abstract

Prepackaged food products are a major source of dietary sodium, which is strongly associated with hypertension and cardiovascular diseases. However, data on their sodium content in Saudi Arabia remain limited. This study analyzed nutrition label data from 1,198 prepackaged food products collected from leading retail chains in Riyadh between 2021 and 2023, following the establishment of voluntary sodium reduction targets by the Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA) in 2019 and their revision in 2022. Sodium levels were described and compared against World Health Organization (WHO) benchmarks and SFDA voluntary limits. Among products with established WHO benchmarks (n=1,181) and SFDA voluntary limits (n=1,086), 69% and 60% exceeded the respective sodium targets. Of the 1,069 products with both established sodium limits, 55% exceeded them simultaneously. Median sodium content exceeded WHO benchmarks in 54 of 64 subcategories (84%) and SFDA voluntary limits in 35 of 52 subcategories (67%). These findings characterize the sodium content of prepackaged foods in Riyadh’s leading retail chains and provide baseline data to inform sodium reduction strategies.

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Authors

Researchers on this paper

Munirah N. Alsuhaibani

first | Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority | ORCID 0000-0002-9262-6865

Atheer S. Alragea

middle | Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority

Tagreed M. Alfuraih

middle | Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority

Faisal F. Binsunaid

middle | Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority

Tahrir Aldhirgham

last | Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority

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Citation

BibTeX

@article{Alsuhaibani2026Sodium,
  title = {Sodium content of prepackaged foods in Saudi Arabia: A label-based assessment of alignment with global and national limits},
  author = {Munirah N. Alsuhaibani and Atheer S. Alragea and Tagreed M. Alfuraih and Faisal F. Binsunaid and Tahrir Aldhirgham},
  journal = {Journal of Food Composition and Analysis},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.1016/j.jfca.2026.109463},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfca.2026.109463}
}

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