Food companies in Australia have committed to significant reductions in salt levels in their products, mirroring similar efforts across the globe as public awareness and industry pressures rise.
The Food Safety Authority Ireland may not publish extensive salt reduction targets for industry, but it has been working hard to encourage companies to cut salt in their products since 2004.
Pressure to ensure customer taste preferences are continually met for leading breakfast cereal brands is a hindrance to achieving minimal salt levels, and an sector wide push is required to achieve this objective, claims Kellogg.
Brussels-based Galactic is introducing a new ingredient to enable reduced salt in processed meat products, but without impairing the functional characteristics.
Unilever has announced plans to cut the salt content across its global range of 22,000 products with an eye on achieving the five grams daily maximum salt intake recommended by the World Health Organization.
Flavour giant Givaudan is using new sensory validation techniques to measure how salt impacts on aspects of taste, and is using this as the basis for new ingredients.
Efforts to reduce salt in packaged foods involve more than just
salt replacers and flavour enhancers, as suppliers contribute to
overall efforts by tweaking processes to make lower sodium
ingredients.
DSM Food Specialities is launching a range of yeast-derived taste
potentiators called Sensarite, aimed at maintaining an authentic
taste profile in bakery and dairy products reformulated to be
better for health and nutrition.
The UK's Institute of Food Science & Technology has published
an updated information statement on salt and salt reduction - one
of the hottest topics in the food industry at the moment.