Many croissants, pastries and muffins that are commonly consumed for breakfast contain more salt than a rasher of bacon, it has been claimed.

The revelation followed research conducted by Consensus Action on Salt and Health (CASH), which looked at more than 200 food items. It found that that many sweet pastries contained high levels of salt. Starbucks’ Cinnamon Swirl, for example, contained 1.74g of salt, which is equivalent to nearly a third of the recommended 6g daily intake.

In addition, certain American-style muffins were found to have more salt than a standard bag of crisps and Costa’s Raspberry and White Chocolate muffin contained as much salt as three bags. Burger King’s Big Breakfast Butty with HP Sauce contained 5.6g of salt while the EAT bacon butty contained 2.3g.

In a statement responding to the CASH research, Starbucks said it believed in the “importance of choice”. A spokesman said: “We continually review and adapt our food range to meet our customer needs. This includes examining salt and fat content, working with third parties and regularly introducing new healthier options. For example in September we added our new apricot and oat slices, which are high in fibre and low in salt.”