Food Business News - July 31, 2012 - 31

Ingredient Innovations Sodium Reduction

eatherhead Food Research in the United Kingdom in July issued results of a project called “Evaluation of technological approaches to salt reduction.” It found promise in such areas as research on restructuring salt crystals, the use of ﬂavor enhancers and potential further reductions in baked foods. While the Food and Drink Federation and the British Retail Consortium jointly commissioned the project, it touched on many sodium reduction techniques also used in North America. “The emerging technologies and ingredients may help companies who have exhausted the use of current options, but their effectiveness will need assessing on an individual product basis,” The Leatherhead report said.

“The future research highlights how salt reduction work is still an active ﬁeld. However, these solutions may not be available for some time.” Leatherhead is conducting a study to evaluate micro- and nano-technologies for enhanced ingredient functionality, which then may assist in sodium reduction efforts. The project, scheduled to end in 2013, will investigate ways to alter the size of ingredients and assess how the alteration inﬂuences behavior in food products. Eminate Ltd., a subsidiary of the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom, has developed such salt reduction technology. Called Soda-Lo, it changes the structure of salt crystals to create free-ﬂowing, microscopic hollow balls with a shelf life of

Survey shows American consumers’ views on sodium
WASHINGTON — The 2012 Food & Health Survey from the International Food Information Council Foundation included ﬁndings on Americans’ strategies in reducing sodium consumption. The survey involved 1,057 people ages 18 to 80. When asked to what extent they tried to consume or avoid sodium, 53% said they tried to limit or avoid it while 35% said they do not pay attention to it, 5% said they were not sure, 4% said they tried to consume sodium and 3% said they just tried to be aware. When asked what they do regularly in regard to sodium consumption, 57% said they limit or never add salt to food. Other answers were prepare more meals at home to control sodium intake (38%), use herbs, spices or other salt alternatives (38%), purchased products labeled as low sodium (37%), eat smaller portions to control sodium intake (17%), ask that food be prepared without added salt when eating out (7%) and none of the above (22%). FBN

18 months, according to Leatherhead. The particles deliver an intense, salty hit on the taste buds, which means Soda-Lo may be used at lower levels than salt to achieve a desired taste level. Soda-Lo already is being used commercially in bread, pies, pastries and pizza bases in the United Kingdom. It has been shown to reduce salt levels by as much as 70% in bread. Another Soda-Lo project involves cheddar cheese. London-based Tate & Lyle, P.L.C. in October 2011 signed an exclusive, worldwide license agreement with Eminate Ltd. for Soda-Lo. Tate & Lyle plans to commercialize the Soda-Lo technology on a global basis, which includes manufacturing, product development, sales and marketing. Tate & Lyle expects to launch a range of products later this year, Javed Ahmen, chief executive, said when the company gave ﬁnancial results May 31. In North America, Minneapolis-based Cargill already offers FlakeSelect, a process that physically modiﬁes single or multiple ingredients. The thin ﬂakes offer high solubility and have a large surface area. They adhere to topical applications such as salted snacks, cereal,

July 31, 2012

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Food Business News - July 31, 2012

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