Samenvatting

More awareness is needed in food service and culinary schools for the effect of the chefs’ smoking behavior on their salt use. Smoking is known to affect taste perception. Restaurant dishes are often high in salt and smoking might play a role in this. We show that prevalence of smoking among Dutch chefs is above the population average. It seems that work pressure plays an important role in this high prevalence of smoking. Although not statistically significant, results do provide indications that smoking chefs use more salt as compared to non-smoking chefs. Thus, if chefs smoke less, this is not only beneficial for their own health, but it also has potential health effects for guests since reducing levels of salt in restaurant dishes can contribute to a lower risk of high blood pressure and related cardiovascular diseases.