Traditional salt substitutes and flavor enhancers have failed. Discover how MicroSalt® is creating a consumer-friendly future.
Key Takeaways:
- Global low sodium initiatives are forcing manufacturers to reassess food production
- MicroSalt® is at the forefront of a revolution in low-sodium snacks and a healthier lifestyle
- Our product can be added seamlessly to production processes to deliver increased sodium taste at negligible cost
Change can be intimidating when manufacturers must make significant financial investments to implement it. Change can also be inspiring, as is evident in a growing number of global initiatives.
The World Health Organization recently set low-sodium benchmarks to help guide manufacturers toward lower sodium food production. This complements the USDA’s drive toward less salt in schools. New regulations like these and shifting public tastes are altering the relationship between sodium, the products it’s used in, and the public that consumes them.
Read on to discover how adding MicroSalt® can help manufacturers of low-sodium snacks make a smooth and affordable transition to social responsibility and competitiveness in an increasingly health-conscious economy.
Why use MicroSalt® in your snacks?
There’s a clear imperative for food manufacturers to put MicroSalt® in their products. 32% of all deaths globally are caused by heart disease, which can be a direct result of excess dietary sodium. The ubiquity of salt-heavy snacks is contributing to people consuming an average of 3400 mg of sodium a day – dangerously above the FDA’s recommended limit of under 2300 mg.
“It’s everyone’s responsibility to play their part in providing a healthy product for people to eat, especially when you talk about feeding children,” says Rick Guiney, MicroSalt® CEO. “Every business and food manufacturer has to be a corporate citizen and realize that the food we provide for people can’t kill them.”
This simple statement would be unnecessary in an ideal world. Unfortunately, there are two significant barriers preventing such common sense from becoming the norm, and MicroSalt® is dedicated to removing them.
How consumers view low-sodium snacks
“Low-sodium snacks struggle against public perception,” Guiney continues. “Producers of healthy choices face the prevailing image of low-sodium snacks being bland and flavorless.”
Consumers demand a satisfying, salty taste and will even choose to compromise their health to do so. It’s a hard fact that goes hand-in-hand with another truth Guiney neatly summarizes: “You can’t change the world with bad tasting food. A product could be the best thing ever created in terms of health, but it’s not going to work if the flavor fails.”
Food manufacturers can attract consumers to healthier snacks by revitalizing how low-sodium snacks are not only perceived in terms of taste but also how they’re produced. These are areas where MicroSalt® can make positive change painless.
Overcoming the expense barrier: Lower sodium for 0.1 cents per bag
Even slight alterations to the manufacturing process can make accounting departments cringe. “Snack foods are actually the cheapest place to innovate, and salt is one of the cheapest components in food manufacturing,” says Javier Contreras, Chief Supply Chain Officer for MicroSalt®. “We’ve done the math. Adding MicroSalt® to the manufacturing process adds only 0.1 cents per bag to the total cost of goods sold.”
Compare how little MicroSalt® alters costs to other factors in potato chips:
- Adding a matte finish to bags: 1 cent per serving
- Upgrading the carbohydrate to sweet potatoes: 10 cents per serving
- Upgrading oil to sunflower, avocado, or coconut varieties: 8, 15, and 20 cents per serving
And peanut snacks:
- Upgrading oil to sunflower, avocado, or coconut varieties: 0.5, 1, and 2 cents per serving
- Upgrading nut type to pecan, almond, or cashew: 8, 10, and 12 cents per serving
Asking any business to increase its operating costs is always a difficult conversation, but it’s one that must be held to deliver healthier choices. 0.1 cents per bag across these popular favorites hardly moves the needle in an economy where widespread increases in the costs of oils, fertilizers, and polypropylene are forcing food producers to pay more to create and package their snacks.
How MicroSalt® works
MicroSalt® is 100% natural salt that delivers 50% less sodium in a patented particle that’s extremely adhesive and flavor-intense. It’s also a very versatile product that can use various salts and formulas to suit the requests and sodium requirements of different international markets.
The super-small, recrystallized grains measure between 0.2 and 0.6 microns and are bonded to a maltodextrin carrier to give them enough weight to settle on a product. Consumers can then enjoy a salty taste that’s twice as strong as traditional sodium depending on your product line, meaning manufacturers only need to use half as much.
MicroSalt® also avoids the bitter aftertaste of traditional substitutes like potassium chloride or the sluggish feeling and other health issues linked to the flavor enhancer monosodium glutamate. Such multisyllabic additives have not only failed to bridge the health/flavor gap for decades but are also becoming increasingly unpopular as the demand for cleaner, more comprehensible labeling increases.
How MicroSalt® can be added to the production process
Manufacturers receive MicroSalt® in 50 lb. bags of fine, white powder that works with most dry-surface or fat-based applications. It is best applied using a drum tumbler or vibration sprinkler mixed with other seasonings being added to the product rather than a roll salter. This ensures greater surface coverage and prevents the superior adhesive properties of MicroSalt® from going to waste.
This eliminates the need for flavor additions at multiple process points and negates the need for expensive refits.
“Ask any consumer if they’d mind paying a small amount more to enjoy full flavor with half the sodium, and they’d happily choose to do it,” Guiney states. “We’re here to help manufacturers surmount the adoption hump so they can give the world a healthier, safer product.”
Reassessing production processes to include MicroSalt® adds a fresh, in-demand feature to existing snacks and creates a powerful new marketing advantage – two benefits that can help a business achieve a public profile, and profits, they can be proud of.
Contact MicroSalt® today with any questions
Our award-winning mission is to help create a food industry that generates positive outcomes for businesses and the public they serve. We’d love to take part in making your products the best they can be. Contact us via our message page or call 1-877-825-0655 to learn more!
