Salt Reduction in Processed Foods

Around the world people are eating too much salt and reducing the salt intake at a populationlevel can reduce total mortality rate, on average, by 1–2% and increase mean life expectancy by 1.6months. In some countries, most dietary salt comes from processed foods and eating out andchanges in food preparation and processing can help people reach the sodium goal. The approach ofgradual sodium reduction in processed foods, thereby modifying consumers’ salt taste experienceover time is recognized as arguably the best current strategy to reduce sodium in foods. Thisstrategy has resulted in salt intakes reduce by 20% and the salt content of processed food reduce by10-50%, saving thousands of lives every year. So far, there are 2 major approaches to reducingNaCl content of food:1) The first is to replace NaCl with other types of salts, such as potassium chloride (KCl) andcalcium chloride (CaCl2).2) The second is to strengthen other tastes to enhance perceived saltiness.There are several solutions in the field of reducing salt of foods, as follow:1. 1st solution: using salt substitutesa) Replacing salt by other ingredients,b) Adding taste enhancers,c) Adding ingredients that modify taste perception,d) Adding salt-flavoured ingredients.2. 2nd solution: using finer salt.3. 3rd solution: adding preservative agents.4. 4th solution: using multiple emulsions in sodium reduction of foods.Reformulation of Food products is a difficult task, but it is possible by gradual salt reduction inprocessed foods and using mentioned solutions.

کلیدواژه ها:

sodium ، salt ، processed food