Is sodium reduction worth its salt?
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A range of companies within food and beverage want to reduce salt and sodium. What’s driving this trend?
Salt reduction, like sugar reduction, is a substantial and growing trend. With salt frequently linked to health conditions such as high blood pressure, food and beverage is faced with significant demand for alternatives that reduce either salt or its key component, sodium.
But how substantial is consumer demand for such alternatives? Is it regulation or consumers themselves driving the trend?
Is there consumer demand for salt reduction?
Earlier this year, a Tetra Pak survey revealed that 40% of consumers are cutting back on their sugar intake. Is the trend in salt reduction driven by similar demand?
According to Aaron Rasmussen, head of global applications at Ohly, while salt has many beneficial properties, such as food preservation, texture and taste, the sodium it contains has been linked to a range of negative health outcomes and should therefore be reduced.
According to Rasmussen, consumer demand for salt reduction is substantial. “We see consumer and industry interest for innovative and good tasting solutions to reduce sodium from baked goods, sauces and seasonings.”
Also read → Is potassium a good alternative to sodium in salt?
According to Innova Market Insights, consumers globally are increasingly opting for products low in sodium. This is largely due to health concerns, making it the component people limit the third most, after sugar and fat.
22% of consumers globally want to limit their sodium intake, Innova suggests (including 46% in Brazil and 38% in Mexico). This only increases with age, as over 55s are twice as likely to want to limit sodium intake as those aged 18-24.
However, there are reasons beyond consumer demand to cut down on salt and sodium in products.
Is regulation driving salt reduction?
A spokesperson for Tek Salt suggests that interest from consumers is less significant than from industry itself, as it works to meet government targets for salt reduction.
UK Government 2024 salt reduction targets
In September 2020, the UK Government released targets for salt reduction by 2024 . The targets increased those set in 2017. They included, for example, 2.59g salt or 1035mg sodium per 100g for bacon, a maximum of 1.90g salt or 760mg sodium per 100g for cheddar and ‘hard-pressed’ cheeses, and a maximum of 1.13g salt or 450mg sodium per 100g for pizzas (1.25 g salt or 500mg sodium for those with cured meat toppings).
Within the European Union, the European Commission’s 2007 whitepaper ‘A Strategy for Europe on Nutrition, Overweight and Obesity’ led to the creation of salt reduction regulations in its member states, as well as adding salt to the ‘HFSS’ label.
In the European Union, Tek Salt suggested, “some countries are interested in sodium reduction, for some countries it’s not on the agenda.”
