Reducing sodium intake is a global health priority and since meat products account for about 25% of all sodium consumed, meat is a prime target for salt reduction.

Last year the Food and Drug Administration issued voluntary guidelines for companies and organizations to start the process of reducing salt and sodium content in foods and beverages. Although this guidance isn’t yet binding, over time these guidelines will begin being implemented in both public and private organizations. Since taste is the number-one driver of consumer purchases, commercial success makes it vital that any sodium-reduction efforts in meat protect taste or build it back into reformulated products.  

In processed foods such as meat, salt serves a multi-purpose role: It acts not only as a flavoring agent and extends shelf life, but also as a contributor to texture, and it’s been found that so-called “stealth” reductions — just reducing the quantity of salt used without changing any other aspect of the product recipe — are quickly noticed by consumers and change functional product properties.

Consequently, manufacturers of processed meat are facing extensive challenges in reducing the salt content of their products while maintaining desired taste attributes and functional preservation and textural properties. This requires looking at all sources of sodium in products and menu recipes and taking into account the impact of sodium reduction on preservation. In short, reducing sodium can also often lead to a preservation challenge. In this article, we explore why reducing sodium is such a challenge, what solutions exist today, and the areas in which research and innovation are still needed. 

Sodium’s multi-purpose functionality

Sodium performs multiple roles within processed foods, including amplifying taste, enhancing shelf life and texture, three essential roles that come with a minimal cost impact. 

Take taste as an example. Reducing sodium content often suppresses the total saltiness of the food and thus distorts the balance of the product’s overall savory taste. This includes a decrease in the full extent of the flavor, an increase in sourness and bitterness, and a negative impact on umami intensity, all concerns that must be addressed.

A second problem is food safety, which must be addressed if shelf life is to be maintained. The use of salt reduces water activity, limiting microbial growth in foods. Its removal can require an adjustment to the preservation solution used to limit the pathogen and organism growth that can lead to spoilage. Confounding the process is the fact that many traditional preservative ingredients contribute their own sodium; examples include sodium nitrite, sodium lactate and even buffered vinegar (often buffered with sodium-based ingredients). 

Texture is a third important challenge that can arise when salt is reduced. This is particularly the case in processed meat—in which salt plays an integral role. When salt is reduced, there are negative impacts on water-holding capacity, protein-binding functionality and fat binding. All these characteristics improve texture and correspond to decreased cooking loss—therefore improved stability—in some meat products, so removing or reducing salt creates issues that simply cannot be ignored.

How is the industry responding? 

Clearly, attempts at salt reduction create complex problems that will keep food manufacturers on their toes in the coming years, especially given aggressive public health mandates by government. However, the shift also provides an exciting opportunity for the industry to innovate and offer truly sustainable nutrition that tastes good. 

A few commonly applied solutions are stealth reduction, mineral salts, MSG and ribotides, yeast extracts and salt-perception flavors, each of which, however, comes with its own price. The most often used substitute in sodium reduction is potassium chloride (KCl), a naturally occurring salt derived from the ground or sea. Food manufacturers use KCl to reduce the presence of salt by as much as 50%. Sounds effective, but it’s not that simple. Unfortunately, KCI produces a metallic taste and bitterness that need to be masked given that most consumers will complain about this unpleasant side effect. 

And so it begins: the delicate balancing act of salt perception that requires a recalibration of taste and flavor intensity aimed at re-establishing an accepted consumer offering.

Let’s look at a meat snack seasoning as an example. When you remove salt, the overall taste of a snack moves out of balance: How would a pepperoni meat snack taste without its delicious saltiness? Regaining the desired taste requires a strong understanding of the interplay of all elements in the seasoning: What is the snack base? How much salt can be reduced stealthily without a poor impact? What is the target sodium in the final recipe? What other ingredients are contributing to sodium content other than salt? Working with a trusted partner can bring a holistic approach to resolving these taste, nutrition and functionality concerns, and deliver important applications expertise and a deep technical toolbox from which to pull solutions. 

When it comes to preservation, there are numerous cost advantages and benefits in switching from a sodium lactate-based preservative to sodium-free potassium acetate-based solution. Since the latter is used at a lower dose rate (~0.5% versus a liquid sodium lactate at ~2.5%), it has no significant impact on taste. Acetates are produced as an organic salt from acetic acid and are highly effective at inhibiting microbial growth in meat. An acetate-based preservative solution is up to five times more efficient than lactate, meaning a processor can use five times less product—ergo, a direct cost savings, along with other “soft” savings, e.g., lower transportation and hauling costs, reduced storage space needed, and less infrastructure than managing liquid-based sodium lactates. The other large benefit of switching away from sodium-based preservatives is that it leaves room in a product’s sodium “budget” to add back salt as needed. 

Building back taste is critical 

Sodium reduction demands a comprehensive approach if a balanced taste is to be maintained, and also to ensure that salt alternatives such as potassium chloride won’t be derailed by unforeseen taste challenges. 

Luckily, there are natural ingredients available to help rebalance taste and deliver an appealing eating experience that doesn’t rely on simply replacing sodium. For instance, “umami” yeast extracts can be used to recover salt perception and return some of the taste and mouthfeel resident in full-sodium products. These can also mask the off notes so common in sodium alternatives. However, this does not provide a complete solution, as upfront saltiness, late lingering and masking of off notes still needs to be built in the final sodium-reduced taste solution. Rebalancing the total taste in sodium-reduced products requires combination of sodium reduction taste tools and flavor tools for the characterizing savory profiles.

These solutions—which, when applied carefully, can lead to an average salt reduction of 50%—can be applied to a variety of foods, among them snacks, processed meat, prepared meals, soups, sauces, bakery items and savory spreads. They are also flexible across applications (think vegetarian and vegan). 

In the end, successfully solving for taste, nutrition and functionality while reducing salt is an achievable task. It simply requires the expertise, tenacity and creativity to combine and integrate ingredients to determine exactly how they will impact preservation, flavor, preservation and texture. The FDA’s sodium reduction guidelines underscore the concerns governments are asking the food industry to overcome—and it’s a mandate that will only grow stronger as new evidence mounts about the negative effects of sodium on human health and longevity. 

Hugo Leclercq is global portfolio director, fermented products and salt reduction, for Kerry.