Sodium reduction in foods: Challenges and strategies for technical solutions

Abstract

In many parts of the world, sodium consumption is higher than recommended levels, representing one of the most important food-related health challenges and leading to considerable economical costs for society. Therefore, there is a need to find technical solutions for sodium reduction that can be implemented by food producers and within food services. The aims of this review are to discuss the barriers related to sodium reduction and to highlight a variety of technical solutions. The barriers relate to consumer perception, microbiology, processing, and physicochemistry. Existing technical solutions include inhomogeneous salt distribution, coated salt particles, changing particle sizes and forms, surface coating, multisensory combinations, sodium replacements, double emulsions, adapted serum release by microstructure design, and adapted brittleness by microstructure design. These solutions, their implementation and the associated challenges, and applicable product categories are described. Some of these solutions are ready for use or are in their early development stages. Many solutions are promising, but in most cases, some form of adaptation or optimization is needed before application in specific products, and care must always be taken to ensure food safety. For instance, further research and innovation are required in the dynamic evolution of saltiness perception, consumer acceptance, the binding and migration of sodium, juiciness, microbiological safety, and the timing of salt addition during processing. Once implemented, these solutions will undoubtedly support food producers and food services in reducing sodium content and extend the application of the solutions to different foods.

Do not be salty: an analysis of consumers' salt reduction strategies investigated using word association tasks

“…The second most mentioned category from the WA task was bland and many participants stated that SRFs are bland or taste healthy. This result identifies the main challenge faced in the food industry, as many studies have found that SRFs have a bland flavour when compared to their conventional counterpart (Halim et al ., 2020; Vinitha et al ., 2022; Lorén et al ., 2023). Also, a food labelled as salt‐reduced can impact consumer acceptance as well (Kongstad & Giacalone, 2020; Gorman et al ., 2023).…”

A review of the world's salt reduction policies and strategies – preparing for the upcoming year 2025

“…99 Reducing the salt content in food poses three significant challenges, namely sensory perception, microbiological concerns, and structural and textural alterations. 100 Therefore, the direct reduction of salt content in food proves to be a challenging task. Extensive research has been conducted to achieve the objective of reducing salt while preserving the physicochemical properties, sensory characteristics, and microbial stability of food (Fig.…”

“…The rate of salt crystal dissolution in the oral cavity is significantly influenced by its crystal habit, which is often referred to as the morphology of the crystalline solid. 100,154 The solubility of crystals often varies between different forms. 155 Quilaqueo et al investigated the dissolution of five different forms of commercial salts (Fig.…”

Sodium and Human Health: What Can Be Done to Improve Sodium Balance beyond Food Processing?

“…The strategies that are most frequently used include the reduction in added salt in formulations and the replacement of sodium chloride by alternative salts containing less or no sodium (e.g., KCl, MgCl 2 , CaCl 2 ) or being structurally modified. Moreover, the addition of alternative ingredients such as flavour enhancers, e.g., herbs, spice seasonings and yeast extracts, and textural agents or the use of different processes are also part of the industrial strategies to favour a decrease in the sodium content of processed foods [ 11 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 ]. As described in Table 1 , they can promote concrete solutions for a variety of foods.…”