Most major food companies have announced a reduction in the sodium — the part of salt we’re concerned with — in their processed foods.
And that’s because, “Americans are becoming much more aware of their sodium intake — and you can see it in the way food and beverage companies are targeting consumers,” says Joan Holleran, Director of Research for Mintel, a market research firm.
“The number of new products being launched with sodium claims of some type,
including low-, no-, or reduced-sodium, are way up — more than 115% from
2005 through 2008. What’s really interesting is how sodium is being positioned.”
On Wednesday, Sara Lee announced plans to reduce the salt in many of its food products (hot dogs, lunchmeat, breakfast foods, cooked sausage, bread) by an average of 20 percent over the next five years. Sara Lee’s brands include: Jimmy Dean, Hillshire Farm and Ball Park.
Campbell Soup Co. has been cutting the salt in its soups over the past few years, just announced on Monday that it was reducing the sodium in SpaghettiOs by up to 35 percent.
And in October of this year, ConAgra said it would cut the salt in all their food products by 20 percent by 2015.
– bonnie
[…] Many health leaders have urged food companies to reformulate their products to reduce salt, and some companies — Con Agra, Campbells, Sara Lee and now Kraft — are beginning to do so. […]
[…] here on BiteoftheBest.com — companies such as ConAgra, PepsiCo, Kraft Foods, General Mills and Sara Lee have already announced that they’ll do so, as I’m sure the companies were aware of the […]