Milling & Baking News - January 29, 2008 - 30

Food Ingredient Solutions

Addressing 'hidden' sodium
Salt steps into spotlight as public debate heats up.

ith the regulatory spotlight
focused on salt, bakery formulators have an enormous
problem. In bread and other baked
foods, salt plays crucial roles in dough
strength, crumb structure and crust
color as well as taste. But the sodium
content, primarily from salt, of processed foods is a heated issue in the
public forum. Since the early 1960s,
the baking industry cut the sodium
content of its products by 29%. Even
so, its products account for 35% of sodium intake by Americans today.
On Nov. 29, 2007, the Food and
Drug Administration held a public
hearing about its policies concerning
salt and sodium in foods. At the gathering, the American Medical Association repeated its call for strict limits on
salt in processed foods. Food industry
representatives, including the American Bakers Association (A.B.A.), argued against such drastic steps. At the
end of the day, the F.D.A. betrayed no
indication it planned to revoke salt's
GRAS (generally recognized as safe)
status or adopt labeling changes.
Testifying at the hearing, Lee Sanders, A.B.A.'s senior vice-president of
government relations and public affairs, observed, "A 25% reduction to
meet a reduced-sodium health claim
would dramatically impact flavor, as
well as mixing and handling of the
dough." In January, the A.B.A.'s Food
Technical Regulatory Affairs Committee (FTRAC) examined the results of
the F.D.A. salt hearing.
"Most Americans get the bulk of
their sodium from processed foods,"
said Paul Vajda, marketing manager,
Cargill Food Systems, Minneapolis,
noting that consumers' concern about
sodium increases as they age, making
them prime targets for foods claiming reduced-sodium content, but he
also pointed out that blood pressure in
children is rising.
Nutrient and need
"We have to try to get salt and sobakingbusiness.com / world-grain.com

dium into better balance in our foods,"
said Val Anderson, Mineral Resources
International, Ogden, Utah. Sodium is
an essential nutrient.
Part of the problem of balance is
modern humans consume twice as
much sodium as potassium, a ratio
that flipped during the 20th century.
Baked foods, and bread specifically, have come to be seen as important sources of sodium in the Western diet, despite salt levels being
relatively low in bread, around 1%
to 1.5%, said Alan English, technical
director, SOLO, The Low Sodium Sea
Salt Co., Springfield, Ill.
"The real nutritional problem is
the high levels of sodium being consumed," he said. "Sodium comprises
about 40% of common salt; therefore, by using salt alternatives such
as SOLO with lower sodium levels,
around 16%, lower sodium levels in
finished products can be achieved
while preserving the flavor and functional advantages of salt."
Salt is also an essential ingredient
for bakers. As Mr. English explained,
it controls yeast growth during the
proofing process, affects crumb
structure, adds color to the crust,
adds flavor and controls spoilage,
thereby increasing shelf life and reducing wastage.
"A point frequently overlooked is
that salt contributes to yield," he said.
The removal of 1% salt from a bread
formulation requires supplementation
with another ingredient to make up
the loss of weight. This makeup ingredient is likely to be flour, and such additions may cost much more than salt,
thus raising total bowl costs.

system at the 2007 Food Expo of the
Institute of Food Technologists. Morton Salt has long offered its Lite Salt
Mixture, a blend of sodium chloride
and potassium chloride. Flavor companies such as Givaudan, Synergy Flavors and WILD Flavors provide flavor
potentiators that address the problem
blandness that often accompanies sodium reduction.
Another option becoming increasingly popular with consumers is sea
salt, which provides a high-mineral
content answer. Using salt to replace
salt may seem counterintuitive, but
sea salt not only adds romantic consumer appeal but also supplies interesting nutritional and functional
benefits. This is because of the minerals it contains.
SOLO, a sea salt that contains 60%
less sodium than conventional salt, is
16% sodium.
"It also contains potassium and
magnesium in place of the sodium, so
it has approximately the same ionic
strength as common salt," Mr. English explained. "It looks, handles and
performs like common salt. It contributes to yield like common salt. It
is more easily soluble than common
salt, and this has advantages in the
proofing process."
For more complete technical coverage
of salt visit www.bakingbusiness.com. MBN
- Laurie Gorton

Lower sodium solutions
Many ingredient suppliers
are working on reducing the sodium in processed foods. Cargill,
for example, introduced
its patent-pending SaltWise sodium reduction
Milling & Baking News

January 29, 2008 / 31

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Milling & Baking News - January 29, 2008

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