Competition is hotting up in the salt reduction stakes with a series of new products hitting the market claiming to help manufacturers replicate both the flavour and technical functions of salt.
First up is LactoSalt Optitaste, a clean-label, dairy mineral concentrate from French dairy ingredients firm Armor Protéines, which has four times less sodium than salt.
The product, which will be launched at the Food Ingredients Europe exhibition in London later this year, is said to be ideal for bread, cheese, meat, soups and sauces and ready meals and can facilitate salt reduction of up to 50%, said marketing director Benoit Laplaize.
"Salt has multiple functions. It has a taste, but it also acts as a preservative, it affects gluten development in bread, it contributes to water and fat binding and it affects things like water content in cheese maturation. LactoSalt Optitaste is able to replicate the functionality and the taste, whereas most products on the market do one or the other."
Next is Sensarite. As revealed in FIHN (March/April 2007, p12), this is a new neutral-tasting range of yeast-based 'taste potentiators' from DSM Food Specialties, which also enables manufacturers to reduce salt in a wide range of products by up to 50%.
It also enhances creamy fat flavours, improves overall taste perception and masks off notes, said Hanneke Veldhuis, business manager for Sensarite. "If you use Sensarite in reduced salt bread, you get the same shelf-life and the same texture as standard bread."