HEALTH
HOLLAND FOOD INNOVATIONS . NOVEMBER 2015 . NO 4
Small Steps towards Less Salt Salt reduction is and will continue to be an important topic for the food industry. Substitute ingredients and technologies to enhance salt perception are available. Reformulation will continue to be necessary to achieve a product with a similar taste. Nonetheless, more needs to be done in order to increase consumer awareness about salt reduction.
does not necessarily work for another,” explains De Kok. The best-known and easiest way is to replace sodium chloride with potassium chloride (KCl). The disadvantage of this is that you get the bitter aftertaste of potassium at high concentrations. Adjusting the recipe or adding a masking agent can compensate for off-flavors. “Adding a mask-
The World Health Organization (WHO)
pal Scientist at contract research center
ing agent usually results in an extra ingredi-
recommends consuming no more than five
NIZO food research. The research center
ent on the label. Some food companies are
grams of salt a day. At present, consumption
participates in a variety of research projects
keen to avoid that.”
is still nine to twelve grams a day on aver-
on salt reduction.
R&D Manager Marian Verbruggen at
age. Excessive salt intake is associated with
Ruitenberg Ingredients, a developer of
developing high blood pressure and cardio-
Salt Substitutes and Clean Label
functional concepts for the food industry,
vascular diseases. “The downside is that salt
Various strategies can be used to reduce
states that partly replacing sodium chloride
- sodium chloride - is dirt cheap. Which
sodium content: substitute the salt or en-
with potassium chloride works very well
means that as things currently stand, foods
hance the flavor of the salt present or salt
indeed in some products. Ruitenberg devel-
containing an alternative to salt are always
perception (see the Pyramid of Salt Replace-
ops such products as hearty fillings for meat
more expensive,” says Peter de Kok, Princi-
ment). “What works for one product group
and bakery products. “The bitterness
Ruitenberg develops products with potassium chloride as hearty fillings for meat and bakery products.
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