Salt, Fat and Sugar Reduction

Sensory Approaches for Nutritional Reformulation of Foods and Beverages

Maurice O'Sullivan

• Publisher: Woodhead Publishing
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9780128226124
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Food Science
• Index: Technology & Engineering

Salt, Fat and Sugar Reduction: Sensory Approaches for Nutritional Reformulation of Foods and Beverages explores salt, sugar, fat and the current scientific findings that link them to diseases. The sensory techniques that can be used for developing consumer appealing nutritional optimized products are also discussed, as are other aspects of shelf life and physicochemical analysis, consumer awareness of the negative nutritional impact of these ingredients, and taxes and other factors that are drivers for nutritional optimization. This book is ideal for undergraduate and postgraduate students and academics, food scientists, food and nutrition researchers, and those in the food and beverage industries.

• Provides a clear outline of current legislation on global ingredient taxes
• Demonstrates effective protocols, sensory, multivariate and physico-chemical for salt, fat and sugar reduction
• Outlines reduction protocols, with and without the use of replacer ingredients for salt, fat and sugar reduction
• Illustrates the full process chain, consumer to packaging, and the effects of reformulation by reduction of ingredients

Chapter one

Understanding the requirement to reformulate; science, health, consumer demand, regulation, and capability

Abstract

This chapter will explore a brief review of the major negative-targeted ingredients, salt, sugar and fat, and their current scientific basis for linking them to the civilization diseases. Consumer awareness of the negative nutritional impact of these ingredients will be discussed through feedback from some recent survey work as well as government initiatives such as pricing and sequential ingredient reduction programs. Sugar, fat, and salt taxes will also be discussed as well as all the, abovementioned, factors as drivers for nutritional optimization through reformulation in the food and beverage industries. Finally a brief summary of reformulation capability is presented where essential steps must be reviewed before any project is implemented. These include regulatory requirements, safety, pricing, technological capability and product stability monitoring.

Keywords

Salt; fat; sugar; pricing; taxes; capability

Contents

Outline

• Introduction 1
• Salt 2
• Fat 7
• Sugar 9
• Pricing 11
• Taxes 13
• Capability 15
• Regulatory guidelines 16
• Safety 17
• Least cost formulation 19
• Technological capability 19
• Line extensions 20
• Pre- and postapproval—shelf life testing 20
• References 21
• Further reading 27

Introduction

Nutritional optimization of processed foods is driven by four distinct processes. The first involves scientific understanding of the civilization diseases, such as hypertension, obesity, diabetes, and coronary heart disease (CHD), which result from the consumption of processed foods. The unhealthiness of too much fat, salt, and sugar in the human diet has been studied now for many years by virtually thousands of scientists. This scientific understanding is disseminated into the academic databases and journals, which ultimately filters through to the main stream media. This in turn propagates the second driver, which is consumer awareness and understanding by the population in general of the scientific findings of the first driver. Stage three is the modification of processed food recipes by the industry because of consumer demand. This manifests as either a drop in sales of “unhealthy products” and the then essential need to reformulate or the capitalization of the industry to develop healthier processed food variants to meet consumer needs. The fourth stages are the government incentives to make foods healthier. This occurs through collaboration with industry to set realistic targets for unhealthy ingredient usage, for example, salt levels [the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) salt-reduction programs]. This results in gradual reduction in products over time and can be achieved through stealth, without the consumer really being aware of the reduction strategy. This is a very satisfactory approach for the industry as it means the gradual reduction of an ingredient can be well understood, achieved safely and without loss of commercial viability and most importantly sensory profile. The fourth stage can also be enforced by a government in order to achieve an immediate reduction of an “unhealthy” ingredient. The perfect example of this is the introduction of taxes. On May 1, 2018, Ireland introduced a sugar tax on soft drinks. Products containing between 5 and 8 g/100 mL sugar were levied at 20 c/L while those over 8 g/100 mL were levied at 30 c/L (Table 1.1). This resulted in dramatic increase in reformulation projects by the beverage sector in order for their business strategies to best fit with the new regulation. Again, such incentives are further driving the industry to reformulate, and if they are to succeed, this must be undertaken in a consumer-driven fashion while maintaining safety, shelf life, and commercial viability.

Table 1.1

Sugar tax rates Ireland.

Sugar tax rates
Lower rate			Higher rate
Volume	Tax per pack	Plus VAT^a	Volume	Tax per pack	Plus VAT^a
330 mL	+5c	+7c	Volume	+8c	+10c
500 mL	+8c	+10c	330 mL	+12c	+15c
1.25 L	+20c	+25c	500 mL	+31c	+38c
1.5 L	+24c	+30c	1.25 L	+37c	+45c
1.75 L	+29c	+35c	1.75 L	+43c	+53c
2 L	+33c	+40c	2 L	+49c	+60c
4x330 mL	+22c	+26c	4x330 mL	+32c	+40c
6x330 mL	+32c	+40c	6x330 mL	+48c	+59c

^aValue Added Tax. http://www.moneyguideireland.com/sugar-tax-ireland-much-will.html.

Salt

More than 90% of sodium in humans’ diet is provided by salt (sodium chloride) (He, Campbell, & MacGregor, 2012), with excessive consumption associated with negative effects on human health, principally as elevated blood pressure (≤140/90 mmHg), where the prevalence exceeds 40% in most European countries (Kearney, Whelton, Reynolds, Whelton, & He, 2004; Strazzullo, D’Elia, Kandala, & Cappuccio, 2009). Elevated blood pressure is estimated to induce 7.5 million deaths annually, equivalent to ~12.8% of all deaths worldwide as it is the major risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD) (strokes, heart attacks, and heart failure), the leading cause of deaths globally (World Health Organization (WHO), 2010). A diet rich in salt has also been linked to left ventricular hypertrophy (Kupari, Koskinen, & Virolainen, 1994; Schmieder & Messerli, 2000) progression of renal disease and albuminuria (Cianciaruso et al., 1998; Heeg, De Jong, Van Der Hem, & De Zeeuw, 1989; Swift, Markandu, Sagnella, He, & Macgregor, 2005), stomach cancer (Joossens et al., 1996; Tsugane, Sasazuki, Kobayashi, & Sasaki, 2004), bone demineralization (Devine, Cridle, Dick, Kerr, & Prince, 1995), colorectal cancer (WCRF, 2007) and hypertension in about 20% of the population with increased risk of CVD (Desmond, 2006; Paik, Wendel, & Freeman, 2005). With the increased consumption of processed foods, salt intake has increased to a level of 9–12 g salt per day in nearly all countries worldwide (Henderson, Gregory, Irving, & Swan, 2002) which is 40–50 times higher than the evolutionary intake (0.25 g salt per day) (Eaton & Konner, 1985). A sodium intake of less than 5 g/day is the recommended level (WHO, 2012). Changing consumer lifestyle patterns show a significant impact on consumer diets. A greater number of women are at work, people work longer hours, and spend more time on leisure activities (Hitchman, Christie, Harrison, & Lang, 2002), which has caused an increased demand for convenience foods, with most energy dense and poor in nutrition. After the bread and cereals group the largest source of sodium (salt) in the European diet is processed meat products (Kloss, Meyer, Graeve, & Vetter, 2015). Processed meat products contribute 20%–30% to the daily salt (NaCl) intake in industrialized countries amounting to between 9 and 12 g/day, a much larger value than the recommended value of <5 g/day (Desmond, 2006; Jiménez-Colmenero, Carballo, & Cofrades, 2001; WHO, 2003).

The reduction of salt in processed food causes technological challenges as salt has an essential function in meat products in terms of safety, taste, flavor, texture, and shelf life as well as being a preservative and functional ingredient for the binding of water (Desmond, 2006; O’Sullivan, 2017c; O’Sullivan & Kerry, 2008). Salt is basic to all meat curing mixtures and is the primary ingredient necessary for curing. Food manufacturers have to achieve satisfactory sensory quality in reduced-salt and reduced-fat products, which is challenging as salt and fat perform multipurpose roles in many processed foods and beverages. Salt is a preservative and imparts not only a salty taste but also enhances flavor, inhibits bitterness (Lindsay, 2007), and is important for yield in processed meats due to its water-binding functionality (Fellendorf, Kerry, Hamill, & O’Sullivan, 2018; Fellendorf, Kerry, & O’Sullivan, 2018; Fellendorf, O’Sullivan, & Kerry, 2015, 2016a, 2016b, 2017). Sodium chloride solubilizes myofibrillar proteins during manufacturing (Hamm, 1972), which are responsible for activation of the proteins to increase hydration and water-binding capacity, increase the binding properties of protein, and improve texture (Offer & Knight, 1988). As a consequence, a reduction of salt impacts all these processes with several researchers reported detrimental effects on water-binding capacity, texture, and flavor (Desmond, 2006; Totosaus & Pérez-Chabela, 2009). Also, salt reduction is difficult to achieve due to supermarket concerns about reductions in shelf life, as well as processing concerns pertaining to traditional product labels (Honikel, 2008).

Improving population diets plays an important role in preventing chronic noncommunicable diseases. Traditionally, strategies have focused on public campaigns and health education, despite these efforts, change has been slow (EPHAC, 2010). In addition, several studies found that Americans reported getting the majority of their health-related information from news media (Coleman, Thorson, & Wilkins, 2011). However, due to negative press and governmentally lead health campaigns, consumers are demanding products that are low in salt, fat, cholesterol, nitrites, and calories in general and contain in addition health-promoting bioactive components such as carotenoids, unsaturated fatty acids, sterols, and fibers (Weiss, Gibis, Schuh, & Salminen, 2010).

Some countries have taken a very progressive stance with regard to reducing salt in processed foods. The governments of the Un...