Don’t ‘replace’ salt – just use it better, says formulation expert

28-May-2013 - Last updated on 28-Sep-2021 at 10:05 GMT

Food and snack manufacturers should be looking at innovative solutions that involve using less salt to do more, rather than simply using salt replacement products, according to Wayne Morley of Leatherhead Food Research.

Reducing the salt content of food and snack products is a vital public health target and something that the industry is already working hard to achieve. Yet, to date, this has often involved removing large amounts of sodium chloride salt and replacing some of it with other salts that are not linked with detrimental health effects – but often can have issues with flavour that require the addition of further masking agents.

But there are other, perhaps better, solutions, says Wayne Morley, head of food innovation, Leatherhead Food Research.

Speaking to FoodNavigator and BakeryAndSnacks.com at the recent Vitafoods show in Geneva, Morley said that he believes ‘a much more elgent solution’ to the salt reduction problem is to make better use of sodium chloride itself.

“Stick to sodium chloride, but use it in a clever way so that it works a little bit harder in the product – so that you still get the same saltiness impression, without any of the unpleasant bitter notes, and with lower salt levels in the actual food.”