Baking&Snack - March 2012 - 57

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SPECIAL REPORT

To trim sodium in baked foods, formulators turn to alternative baking sodas and baking powders that …

Chemical Leavening
by Laurie Gorton

F

Forget about the latest scientific news that restricting sodium intake provides no measurable health benefits and may indeed raise the risk of early death from cardiovascular disease. Questioning years of research, such contrarian findings generate headlines, but they haven’t dented ongoing efforts by regulators and the medical community to reduce sodium in the American diet and America’s processed foods. Formulators continue to struggle with cutting sodium out of baked foods. “People think of canned soup and other packaged products when they hear ‘sodium,’ but baked goods can be a significant source,” said Mark Rice, senior sales manager, Clabber Girl Corp., Terre Haute, IN. He observed that one average muffin can carry almost 20% of the recommended daily allowance of sodium, pegged at 2,300 mg per day by the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Several commonplace ingredients add sodium to baked foods. Of course, there’s sodium chloride, aka salt, which accounts for half of all sodium in most items, especially

bread. But in sweet goods and cakes, chemical leaveners — the sodium bicarbonate that provides the leavening gases and the sodium-based organic acids that release those gases — pose the problem. “Leavening acids can contribute upward of 35% of the sodium content of baked foods,” said John Brodie, technical service manager, bakery, Innophos, Inc., Cranbury, NJ. Changes in chemical leavening systems can substantially alter sodium levels. He described how replacing the industry standard sodium acid pyrophosphate (SAPP 28) with Innophos’ Cal-Rise, which contains calcium acid pyrophosphate (CAPP) and anhydrous monocalcium phosphate (AMCP), cuts overall sodium content by 20 to 35%. “This allows

Mixes made with low- or no-sodium baking powders help consumers and food service operators satisfy their desires for reduced-sodium pancakes and similar baked foods.
Innophos

formulators to keep the salt in their formulations and not affect the flavor profile while achieving their sodium-reduction goals.” During the past few years, Innophos and other suppliers of leavening ingredients developed several alternatives to sodiumbearing baking sodas and baking powders — alternatives that enable a comprehensive makeover of chemical leavening systems for commercial bakers. Lately, those substitutes have entered the retail market, too. There’s a nutritional bonus involved as well. When converted to

Ingredient Sodium content Sodium bicarbonate, aka baking soda 27.4% sodium by weight Sodium bicarbonate, at 1% in a formula 2,740 ppm sodium In chemically leavened products Salt Baking soda Leavening acid
Church & Dwight, ICL Performance Products

Sodium contribution to formula 30 to 50% 20 to 40% Up to 25%

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March 2012

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Baking&Snack - March 2012

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