Dec. 1, 2008 -- Even if you never touch a salt shaker and steer clear of potato chips and french fries, you are probably eating more salt than you think and much more than is good for you, an investigation from Consumer Reports shows.

Researchers analyzed 37 processed foods and identified some surprising sources of hidden sodium.

Among the least expected findings:

A 1/2-cup serving of a low-fat cottage cheese had twice as much sodium (360 milligrams) as a 1-ounce serving of regular potato chips (180 milligrams).

A Premium Caesar Salad with grilled chicken from McDonald's had more than twice the salt (890 milligrams) as a large order of McDonald's fries (350 milligrams). And that's without the dressing.

A half-cup serving of Prego's Heart Smart Traditional Italian Sauce had 430 milligrams of sodium, slightly less than what the USDA allows per serving in foods labeled "healthy."

Breakfast foods were an unexpected source of hidden salt. A popular whole-grain bagel had 440 milligrams of sodium, a best-selling pancake mix had 200 milligrams per pancake, and raisin-bran cereals had between 230 milligrams and 350 milligrams per cup serving. A maple and brown sugar-flavored instant oatmeal had more than three times as much sodium as its original flavored version.

"One of the big surprises is that foods that you would think would be really salty, like salted nuts, have less sodium than many processed or packaged foods that don't taste salty at all," Consumer Reports Associate Health Editor Jamie Hirsh tells WebMD.