Reducing Sodium Teaspoon by Teaspoon

The maximum recommended daily allowance for sodium is that of about 1 teaspoon (2,300 mg). For those who are 40 and older, African-American, or have high blood pressure, it is only about ? (1,500 mg) teaspoon. Yet Americans consume 1½ to more than 2 times these recommended amounts each day (3,500 mg).

Industry Response. The food industry knows the processing benefits of salt, not only to enhance flavor, but as a preservative and stabilizer. However, as awareness increases among regulators, health care professionals and consumers as to the negative health aspects of sodium and the amounts in restaurant and processed foods—77 percent of the average American’s daily intake, food companies are seeking to join the prevailing trend and reduce sodium in their products.

Recent months have seen major food companies announcing product reformulations to lower the sodium levels. As examples, in:

• March, Kraft Foods announced a two-year plan to reduce sodium by an average of 10 percent in its North American products.
• April, General Mills pledged a 20 percent reduction in about 40 percent of its products by 2015.
• May, Heinz reduced sodium by 15 percent in all the ketchup it sells in the U.S.
• June, The Campbell Soup Company reformulated 21 soup varieties to reduce sodium by 25 to 45 percent.
• July, Cargill showcased a reduced sodium tortilla made with SaltWise, a blend that provides the taste and functionality of salt with 25 to 50 percent less sodium.

The Challenges. If salt were simply a flavor enhancer, there could be any number of alternatives for processors, but add on salt’s ability to restrict bacterial growth in many foods and the often-unknown impact on microbial stability and water activity of alternatives, and food processors face significant challenges in reducing sodium.

As explained in “Hurdle Technologies: Combination Treatments for Food Stability, Safety and Quality” by Lothar Leistner and Grahame Warwick Gould, substitutes and enhancers are available. “However, the microbial consequences of their use are generally inadequately known.” Of major consequence to the stability and safety of such low-salt foods is increased water activity, and acidity (pH) might also be unfavorable for low-salt muscle foods derived from meat or fish.

As such, microbiologist should take an active part in the design, processing, and marketing of the low-salt foods, the authors stated, noting that in the past, nutritional aspects were much more emphasized than microbial aspects. “However, the latter should not be neglected, because these foods will only be continuously accepted by the consumer if they cause no food poisoning and do not spoil easily.”

Cargill’s “sodium reduction system” is a blend for food and beverage manufacturers to address two major technical challenges of reducing salt in products: "The first challenge is reducing the sodium content without affecting the taste consumers love," said Janice Johnson, food applications leader, Cargill Salt. "The second challenge is maintaining the texture, functionality and shelf-stability that salt provides." With SaltWise sodium is reduced but functional properties of salt are retained.

It is just such developments the industry is seeking to respond to the trend. Although the FDA states that it is not currently working on regulations nor made a decision to regulate sodium content in foods, the agency is reviewing recommendations from a report by the Institute of Medicine (IOM); it is building plans for continuing work with other federal agencies, public health and consumer groups, and the food industry to support the reduction of sodium levels; and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will be establishing an interagency working group to review options and next steps.

Industry Advocates. In addition, numerous health, consumer and industry groups are advocating sodium reduction in processed and restaurant foods. Among these are the IOM committee, whose report, “Strategies to Reduce Sodium Intake in the United States,” finds that, with the chronic disease risks associated with sodium intake, the current levels of sodium added by food manufacturers, food­service operators, and restaurants is too high to be “safe.” The report includes strategies for gradual reduction of sodium levels in foods, including recommendations that:

• FDA set manda­tory national standards for sodium in foods—not banning salt but beginning to reduce excess sodium in processed foods and menu items.
• FDA modify, in a gradual stepwise manner, the GRAS status of sodium compounds in pro­cessed foods to a standard level considered safe.
• HHS with other groups design and implement a nationwide campaign to reduce sodium intake and set a timeline for achieving the levels established by the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
• government and the health and food industries support the implementation of sodium standards and support consumers in reducing sodium intake.
• sodium intake and the progress toward changing salt taste preference be better monitored, tracked and evaluated, and improvements made.

Also advocating such strategies is the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) which offers its support, expertise and assistance to the government agencies.

“Significant progress has been made in reformulating food products, but considerable challenges remain,” said IFT President Marianne Gillette. “Food manufacturers must balance the multiple functions of sodium in food in addition to taste. Changing the sodium content in food impacts microbiological safety, flavor balance and quality, texture, mouthfeel, preservation, color and nutritional properties of a product. Today, there is no single ideal substitute for all the functional properties that sodium chloride provides in foods.”

Although food companies are making strides IFT believes that the minimum acceptable sodium levels be further explored, research should focus on graduated reduction of sodium in processed foods, and the food industry and public health officials should further partner.

“Adapting to a lower sodium diet is best done in small sequential steps, and will require behavioral changes for most Americans,” Gillette said.

The author is Managing Editor of QA magazine. She can be reached at llupo@giemedia.com.