Marianne Gillette - CIAProChef.com

Salt Replacement
Strategies and Tools
Marianne Gillette
CIA Healthy Menu Research Collaborative
June 2011

Objective of this talk
• Brief overview of technical approaches
to reduction of sodium in foods
• Discussion and presentation of selected
commercial options to reduce sodium
– By reduction strategy
– With sensory data
– With selected tasting

Several Consistent Sodium
Reduction Strategies
• Reduced Sodium SeaSalt
• Modified Density/Shape/Size of NaCl
• KCl blends
• KCl maskers
• NaCL enhancers
• Yeasts
• Other Ingredients: Spices/Herbs, Onion/Garlic, Peppers, Sugar, Acids,
Natural Flavors
• 10-20% reduction in NaCl. Period.
• Combinations of the above

Reduced Sodium Sea Salt
• Oceans Flavor* – blended “Sea Salt’
• Life Salt – Icelandia Sea Salt
• SoLo – low sodium Mg enriched 60% less Na+
• Salona- low sodium sea salt from Dead Sea
• PTX Zalt – with natural flavor and whey, 50% less Na+
• NuTek - reduced sodium sea salt, 20% Na / 20% K
*Items in Blue will be made available for tasting, BOLD will be tasted.

Reduced Na Sea Salt
• Benefits
– Label friendly
– Trendy
– Naturally lower in Sodium
– Presence of additional minerals
– Variety (Pink, Gray, Smoked, etc.)
– One for one replacement – simple and easy
• Drawbacks
– Cost ($0.55 – $0.83 / lb)
– Supply
– Off tastes of metallic, bitter

Modified Density/Shape
• Alberger Fine Flake Salt (Cargill)
• Dendritic Salt (Cargill)
• Microfine Salt
• SALiTE (nanoparticle) Table Salt
• SodaLo / Solti (Eminate)
SodaLo/ Solti, Eminate
Alberger Flake Salt, Cargill

Table Salt

Most Salt is Vacuum Evaporated
Cargill Vacuum Evaporated Salt

Modified Density/Shape: Alberger
Cargill Alberger Fine Flake Salt
Benefits:
– Adherence
– Blending
– Number of Particles
– Bulk Density
– Quick Solubility

Modified Density/Shape : Dendritic
Cargill Star Flake Dendritic Salt

SodaLo / Solti

Modified Density/Shape
• Benefits
– 100% “Salt’
– Label as ‘salt’
– No off tastes
– Work well in blends
• Drawbacks
– Cost – SodaLow is ~ $1.40 lb
– Only work for topical application, table use
– May need to blend with salt for correct T-I

KCl Blends
• Saltwise (Cargill, containes AYE and Trehalose)
• Sub4Salt (Jungbunzlauer: KCl, NaCl, Sodium
Gluconate)
•PanSalt ( NaCl, KCl, MgSO4, Lysine)

KCl Blends
• Salt Balance (75/25 blend from Morton
•LiteSalt (50/50 blend from Morton)
• KClean Salt ((Wixon: Masker w/Nat Flavor)
•GoSalt (Alex Food Ingredients: KCl + Flavor)
• Cardia Salt (Nutrition 21:Lysine Monohydrochloride)

KCl Maskers
• Nu-Tek Modified KCl – bitterness removed from KCL.
• Wixon
• SaltRite / GoSalt (KCl + Natural Flavor)
• Betrasalt (Redpoint Bio)
• SaltTrim (Wild Flavors)

KCl Blends & Maskers
• Benefits
– Enable KCL to some degree
• Drawbacks
– None fully mask the bitterness
– KCL remains on label
– Cost ($1.50 to $2.50 / lb)
– Application specific

NaCl Enhancers
• Provesta 028 (Ammonium Chloride, Yeast)
• Intense 25 (Levapa, Yeasts, nucleotides..)
• Ogawa : Salt Taste Improvers
• Innova SavorSalt
• Firmenich : Saltprint 4
• Armor Proteins : Lactosalt
• Givaudan Salt Replacer
• Ajinomoto: Koji Aji (contains wheat)
• Aji Rex (Mitsubishi)
• Every Flavor House…

NaCl Enhancers
• Benefits
– Can Enhance the Taste of Sodium Chloride
– Can offer a Natural Label
• Drawbacks
– Not well documented
– Highly Application specific
– Require significant work to optimize
– Often enhance multiple tastes and flavors
– Cost ($2 - $50 /lb)

Yeasts
• GB Select (yeast extract & desert salt: KCl and NaCl)
• Innova
• Biospringer
• Mitsubishi - AjiRex
• Ajinomoto – Super YE
• Saporesse
• Provesta
• Sensient
• DSM

• Benefits
– Natural ingredient
– Availability
–Flavorful
• Drawbacks
Yeasts
– Flavorful – other savory characteristics
– Color

Acids
• Vinegar (Acetic Acid)
• Succinic Acid
• Citric Acid
• Lactic Acid
• Malic Acid
• Aspartic Acid (tomato)

• Benefits
Acids
– Label Friendly
– Other functions in recipe
– Readily available
• Drawbacks
– Limited impact
– Application specific

Pantry Flavors
• Sensations that typically align with Salt
– Spices, Herbs, Onion, Garlic
– Heat / Peppers
–Tomato
–Dairy
– Sweet Brown
– Toasted Nuts and Seeds
– Roasted Meats
– Fermented
– Citrus
– Combinations

Others
• AlsoSalt Lysine and Potassium
• “Salt Answer’ RX-AX. Ajinomoto
• Whey Permeate (by product)
• Tomato Powders
– Sante by LycoRed
– Maxaflavor by DSM
• Mushroom Powders
– Mycoscent by Marlow Foods

Many Flavor Claims are made…

Time Intensity of the
Salty Sensation is imitated

Multi-component nature of food
requires balancing of tastes and time
UMAMI
SOUR
SALTY
TIME
BITTER
Salt & bitter – mutually suppressing
Salt and umami – mutually enhancing
Sour – additive with salt
Salt enhances sweetness

Each application is unique
• Salt functions and expected taste
• Preexisting consumer preferences
• Interaction of salty with other taste attributes
• Masking / reducing undesirable notes
• Time-intensity flavor release
• Aftertaste and build up
• Stability to processing
• Structural and textural interactions
• Shelf-life

Acceptability
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Optimizing Salt
1 2 3 4 5 6
Increasing Salt (not percentages)
Overall Acceptability
Flavor Acceptability
Saltiness
Acceptability

McCormick Salt Testing Program
• Evaluation of Commercial Substitutes for
over 20 years
• Database of options and specifications
• Sensory evaluation of saltiness
documented in model systems
• Baby Food, green beans (stir in)
• Cookies (bake in)
• Chips (topical)

Salt alternatives evaluated at
equivalent levels of Na+
• Trained Panelists and SQS method
• 10 pt scale where 9 – 10 is an overall match
• Blind NaCl control scores 8.5 – 9
• Blind 50% reduction in NaCl scores 6.5
• Attributes also measured in comparison to fully
salted control:
–Salty
– Bitter
–Sour
–Umami
– Others

McCormick Assessment of
Commercial Salt Substitutes*
• Topical/ Potato Chips
– SOLO
– Sub4Salt
– KClean
• Green Beans
– Sub4Salt
– Saltwise
– Icelandia
• Cookies
– PTX Zalt
* Results are highly application dependent and can be used as a guideline.

Recent Sensory Results suggest
several salt replacers with promise
SQS Score (8.5= Salt)
9
8
7
6
5
SQS Scores for Salt Alternatives tested in Green Beans
Equivalent Sodium Levels to 0.25% NaCl
SoLo Sea Salt
C-Salt (Choline Chloride) Blachem
Ajinomoto Salt Answer
PTX Zalt ND
GB Select
0.25 % NaCl
Oceans Flavor
Nu Tek Modified KCL
Ogawa
Saltwise 0029
Salt Rite / Go Salt
Salt Replacer
SodaLo 30/Solti
KClean
Life Salt/Icelandia
Nu Tek Sea Salt
Saltwise 1029
Sub4Salt
0.5% NaCl

• 0.25 % is
• 2500 ppm or
• 1 t in 2 lbs
Easy Does It !

Tasting
• Reduced Na Sea Salts Price Estimate Sensory Score
– SOLO $0.83 / lb 7.0
– NuTek $0.97 7.4
• Modified Shape and Density
– Solti / SodaLo $1.40 7.1
• KCL Blends
– Saltwise 0029 and 1029 $2.40/ $2.50 7.5
– Sub4Salt $1.70 7.7
• Yeasts
– GB Select $4.40 6.3

Product Score Salt Bitter Metallic Sour Green
Bean
50% less salt 6.5 - - + + + +
SoLo 7.0 - + +
Nu-Tek Sea Salt 7.4 - +
Soda Lo 7.1 - +
Saltwise 0029 6.9 - + + +
Saltwise 1029 7.5 - + + +
Sub4Salt 7.7 - +
GB Select 6.3 - + + +