CELEBRITY chef Delia Smith's recipes have been criticised because of their high salt content.

CELEBRITY chef Delia Smith has been criticised because of the high salt content in some of her recipes.

Campaigners claim many of the dishes in How To Cheat At Cooking - which recommends mixing ready made foods rather than fresh ingredients to save time - contain more than the recommended daily allowance.

Consensus Action on Salt and Health (Cash) said a single serving of one of the recipes, carbonara real quick, had more than 14g of salt - when the advised maximum intake is 6g.

Delia, a joint majority share holder at Norwich City, also has around 12g of salt in her thick pea and bacon soup contains, Cash claim.

Professor Graham MacGregor, the chairman of Cash and professor of cardiovascular medicine at St George's Hospital in London, said “Delia Smith is very respected by the public and has great influence over what we cook.

“It is a real pity that she seems to be unaware of the dangers of eating too much salt, and furthermore it seems as if these latest recipes have not been checked for their salt content.”