Most Americans consume too much sodium, with the majority coming from processed, packaged and prepared foods. This includes bread, buns, chips, crackers, pizza crusts and more. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has provided food manufacturers with guidance for sodium reduction, and while the guidance is voluntary, taking action will help consumers improve their health. 

That’s because, on average, Americans 14 years and older consume 50% more than the recommended limit for sodium, according to the FDA. When it comes to children aged 2 to 13 years, more than 95% exceed the recommended limits of sodium for their age groups. This could have a profound impact on health later in life.

“There’s a variety of ways to tackle this issue using a spectrum of sodium reduction techniques or flavor enhancement tools,” said Mathias Bohn, senior product and strategy manager flavors, North America, Sensient Flavors & Extracts. “We look at the product goals holistically and start by assessing whether we are trying to match an existing product taste or create a new product with a certain flavor profile. Those require different approaches.” 

The company then looks at whether the salt in a formulation serves a functional purpose beyond taste, which is often the case in bakery items. 

“Salt, for example, can be used to control the rate of yeast reproduction, which can provide the desired textures that are crucial to an enjoyable product,” Bohn said. “We can’t limit our focus to just flavor when sodium is involved in taste, texture and functional processes.”

Bakers should explore all ingredients that contribute sodium and make cuts and swaps where possible. Many marketers believe it is best to avoid calling out sodium reduction on product labels because consumers will see it as a less flavorful, inferior product. Producers can make the reduction — carefully — and let label-reading consumers be pleasantly surprised when they view the sodium content of their favorite baked goods. 

One of the most common swaps is replacing sodium chloride with potassium chloride. Since Dec. 17, 2020, the FDA has allowed the term potassium salt to be used on ingredient statements rather than potassium chloride. This is considered a more consumer-friendly term.

“We’ve found potassium salt is one of the best tools to help food manufacturers meet their sodium targets because it does a good job of replicating salt’s functional roles in foods,” said Janice Johnson, food technical adviser, Cargill. “For example, in yeast-leavened doughs, it will help regulate how quickly the yeast grows and gives up gas. It also helps manage gluten formation, giving the cell structure the strength necessary to hold the gas produced by yeast or leavening agents.”

Cargill has used potassium chloride to help bakers and snack manufacturers achieve 10% to 50% sodium reductions, depending on the application. The larger reductions may benefit from using distinctively shaped sodium chloride and potassium chloride crystals. 

“In topical applications, such as seasoning coatings on snack products, we’ve found that particle size and shape can have a big impact on sodium reduction,” Johnson said. “Our uniquely shaped sodium chloride product works great in these applications as its multi-faceted, pyramid and cubed-agglomerated crystalline shape provides more surface area than native cubed-shaped salt crystals (table salt). As a result, it delivers a more intense salty upfront flavor and enables brands to use lower amounts of sodium chloride, without impacting consumers’ salty taste perceptions. Consumers perceive it to be saltier than it is.”

The company has had similar success using ultrafine potassium salt in topical applications. 

“The extremely fine particle size results in quick dissolution, delivering the salty taste consumers expect in a snack without the bitter and metallic notes associated with larger potassium salt particle sizes,” Johnson explained.

Increased surface area also means the crystals have a lower bulk density. This improves adherence with topical applications. In other words, the crystals stay on the product, and there’s less waste.

“When used on chips, for example, this unique structure means less salt is needed to achieve the same salty flavor,” Johnson said. “We’ve also used our uniquely shaped sodium chloride crystal to reduce sodium levels in cracker doughs.” 

In one study, Cargill decreased salt levels in cracker dough by 40%, resulting in a 22% reduction in sodium in the final product. Sensory testing revealed the overall flavor, texture and aftertaste of the reduced-sodium crackers were preferred by panelists over the control (100% granulated salt).

“Not only can this product be used to lower sodium levels in snacks and bakery items, but it does so with just a single ingredient switch and no change in ingredient declaration,” Johnson said.

NuTek Natural Ingredients offers bakers a variety of potassium salt-based solutions that have been designed to avoid a bitter taste. 

“Our clean label salt solutions are produced using a proprietary washing and drying process to eliminate potassium’s bitterness, without the use of bitter blockers, flavor modulators or synthetic additives,” said Steve Zimmerman, senior director, technical sales at NuTek Natural Ingredients. “These cost-effective solutions deliver a healthier nutritional balance while delivering the same great taste and functionality as regular salt.”

Cain Food Industries Inc. offers a Himalayan salt ingredient that is a combination of pink Himalayan salt and potassium salt. There’s also a sea salt blended option, too.

“These products are great because they can be scaled and treated exactly as you would regular salt,” said Ben Reusser, innovation center manager at Cain Food.

Leavening agents are another ingredient that can contribute to the sodium content line on a nutrition label. It’s also another ingredient where potassium can help.

Kudos Blends has developed a bakery-specific grade of potassium bicarbonate, which replaces sodium bicarbonate in baking powders and premixes to provide aeration in chemically leavened goods. 

“Generic potassium bicarbonate is typically coarse and prone to caking, making it difficult for food manufacturers to use without running into issues,” said Matt Ayres, technical sales manager at Kudos Blends. “The most common of these issues is poor solubility in doughs and batters, which prevents the leavening agents from fully reacting. This results in a final product with poor volume, a speckled appearance and a metallic flavor.” 

The company’s blend contains potassium bicarbonate milled into a fine, uniform powder that dissolves and reacts fully in doughs and batters. 

“This means our potassium bicarbonate mimics the performance of sodium bicarbonate, giving optimum volume, a consistent appearance and a clean flavor in baked goods,” Ayres said.

It is an easy swap. Bakers simply replace the sodium bicarbonate with about 20% more of the potassium chloride. Levels may vary based on the leavening agent.

While potassium versions of sodium-based ingredients are typically used in the same manner, there will be changes to the ingredient declaration statement and the sodium and potassium content on the Nutrition Facts label. The latter is viewed favorably, as many consumers strive to reduce sodium intake while increasing potassium intake, as sufficient potassium intake is lacking in many diets, according to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025.

This article is an excerpt from the February 2024 issue of Baking & Snack. To read the entire feature on Sodium Reduction, click here.