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The Food and Drink Federation carried out a survey in 1999 to clarify the usage and functionality of salt as an ingredient in UK manufactured branded food products. The results demonstrate the availability of a choice of labelled products, with a wide range of sodium content within product categories. Salt serves a variety of purposes in manufactured foods particularly as a preservative and flavouring. Many UK manufacturers have implemented recipe alterations to reduce the sodium content of their products or are keeping this possibility under review. In many product categories, there are constraints to reducing the sodium content of products, including detrimental effects on product safety, quality and consumer acceptance. The industry is responsive to consumer demand and is committed to providing nutrition labelling information about sodium content, when practicable, on the pack.

Excessive sodium intake is associated with several diseases. Accordingly, several measures, including microparticulate salt, have been adopted to reduce the salt contents of food products. However, no studies have reported the effectiveness of microparticulate salt in semisolid and liquid products. Accordingly, the purpose of this paper is to evaluate the application of microparticulate salt to reduce sodium contents in semisolid products.

The optimal salt content to be added in butter was defined by the just-about-right-scale test. Butter samples were prepared using microparticulate salt to achieve 25, 50 and 75 per cent reductions in conventional salt concentrations. Multiple comparison tests were performed to evaluate sample taste.

The ideal concentration of conventional salt to be added to butter was 2.16 per cent. Discriminative tests showed that samples with 25 and 75 per cent salt reduction showed significant differences (p ⩽ 0.05) compared with butter prepared at the ideal salt content, whereas the sample with 50 per cent salt reduction had no significant difference (p > 0.05). Thus, microparticulate salt showed higher salting power than conventional salt. These results indicated the effectiveness of microparticulate salt in the preparation of semisolid products with sodium reduction.

More detailed studies about the reduced-sodium butter shelf life are necessary to verify the microparticulate salt application in the product preparation. Moreover, microparticulate salt application in semisolid and liquid products elaboration must be more investigated to better elucidate its practicability of reducing sodium content in these kinds of products. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to test the proposed propositions further.

Microparticulate salt has been successfully applied to reduce sodium in solid products, being added to the finished product surface. However, there are no studies that report its effectiveness in semisolid and liquid products, such as the butter, in which the salt is added during the product preparation. Thus, this research provides new scientific information to the food industry and research fields, to expand the knowledge of reduced-sodium products development using microparticulate salt with sensory quality.

No studies have evaluated the application of microparticulate salt for semisolid product preparation. Therefore, the findings will support the development of healthy products.

The study aims to develop low-sodium chevon patties from low-fat emulsion using various salt substitutes (KCl, CaCl2 and mushroom extract) in different combination without affecting the quality of the products.

Efficacy of salt substitutes was assessed for the development of low-sodium chevon patties. The developed products were assessed for various physicochemical properties, instrumental texture and color profile, estimation of mineral and sensory attributes.

Significant difference (p < 0.05) in mineral content was observed among the patties developed with different salt blends. Sodium content was reduced to the level of 38.07% in salt-substituted chevon patties. Calcium content was significantly (p < 0.05) higher in LS2, LS3 and LS4 salt-substituted chevon patties. Hardness, gumminess and chewiness values were significantly (p < 0.05) higher, and the springiness value was significantly (p < 0.05) lower in control chevon patties compared to treatments. Flavor and saltiness were significantly (p < 0.05) lower in LS1, LS3 and LS4 compared to control. However, flavor, juiciness and saltiness as well overall acceptability scores for LS2 were superior and widely accepted among the sensory panelists.

Based on sensory attributes and physicochemical properties, it is concluded that LS2 salt blend may suitably be used as excellent salt replacer to develop low-sodium chevon patties.

Innovative findings of the experiment strengthen the current literature available on functional animal food products. Further, it provides one of the important natural alternatives to develop low-sodium meat products with special reference to chevon. Looking to increase attention toward health of the consumer and increase in the risk of cardiovascular diseases, the demand of low-sodium products is very high. Therefore, this may be the excellent choice without affecting the quality and sensory attribute of the products.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate a shiitake mushroom extract as a potential natural taste enhancer in low-sodium beef burgers by means of sensorial and physico-chemical assays because nowadays there is a trend in the market for the development of clean-label products.

Ten formulations of beef burgers were developed, varying in the percentage reduction in NaCl (0-75 per cent) and mushroom water extracts (obtained from a 5, 12.5, or 20 per cent mushroom homogenate). Sensory characterisation was performed by time-intensity (TI) and acceptance tests. In addition, physico-chemical analyses (pH, yield, shrinkage, shear force, and colour) were conducted.

Extracts obtained from 5, 12.5, or 20 per cent mushroom homogenate (E1, E2, and E3, respectively) did not enhance the salty taste in formulations with a 0 or 75 per cent reduction in NaCl. In formulations with a 50 per cent reduction in NaCl, all the extracts enhanced salinity perception, with E3 being the most effective. E3 also increased acceptance of colour, aroma, texture, flavour, and overall perception, although it caused changes in some physico-chemical characteristics (pH, yield, shrinkage, shear force, and colour).

The shiitake mushroom extract is a natural ingredient with a potential to serve as a taste enhancer in meat and other food products, for the purpose of reducing sodium content without compromising sensory acceptability. Therefore, this extract will enable the development of healthier products (owing to a reduction in sodium) with preserved sensory quality and will meet consumers’ requirements for the minimal use of chemical additives in food.

The main purpose of this paper was to evaluate the influence of the zein coating containing essential oils on the sensory characteristics of sodium-reduced mozzarellas.

Mozzarellas were prepared by dipping in brine containing 5, 10, 15 or 20% of NaCl (w/v) that correspond, respectively, to 25, 50, 75 and 100% of NaCl content used in industry. These salted mozzarellas and another one, unsalted, were coated by an edible zein film added with 3% of a mixture of thyme and garlic essential oils (1:1). They were subjected to sensory analysis in relation to salty taste and overall impression. The mozzarella without salt reduction (20% NaCl w/v), coated or uncoated with the edible film, was also subjected to the analysis of water loss and microbiological quality, in order to evaluate the impact of this film on product quality.

The zein coating added with oils did not compromise the sensory acceptance of the mozzarella prepared with up to 50% of salt reduction. Water loss and microbial growth were lower in zein-coated mozzarella than in uncoated mozzarella. These results showed that this film could be applied as natural additive, contributing to the microbiological and sensory characteristics of the mozzarella.

This paper contributes to reducing the lack of studies in relation to new technologies for food preservation and sodium reduction. In addition, the zein coating containing essential oils can be tested on other food categories.

The purpose of this paper is to compare the sodium content displayed on the labels of conventional processed food products (C) and of those with nutrition claims suggesting the absence or reduced levels of nutrients (AR).

Cross-sectional study analyzing the ingredients list, nutrition facts and nutrition claims on food labels. Subjects: all processed food products with added salt or additives containing sodium that were for sale in a large supermarket in Brazil from October to December 2011.

All 3,449 products were analyzed and categorized into 66 groups according to Brazilian legislation. The median of sodium content in the AR was 42.7 percent higher than in the C (p=0.007). In 33.3 percent of the groups there was difference in sodium content between AR and C (p < 0.05) and in 68.2 percent of these the sodium content was higher in AR. The variation range of sodium in products from the same group reached 2,905.0 mg in C and 1,712.0 mg in AR. Even when the median of sodium was lower in the AR, the minimum sodium values were lower in the C.

Comparisons of sodium content of conventional and AR processed food are scarce in the literature, especially covering all food for sale in a large supermarket. To the best of the knowledge, this is the first census making this comparisons in Latin America.

This study aims to assess the influence of partial and simultaneous substitution of fat and sodium by hydrolyzed collagen and mix of herbs (MH) in chicken hamburgers, on the physical properties and proximal composition.

Five formulations were developed: (1) HCON–without adding collagen and MH; (2) C25M25–adding 25% of collagen and 25% of MH; (3) C25M50–adding 25% of collagen and 50% of MH; (4) C50M25–adding 50% of collagen and 25% of MH and (5) C50M50–adding 50% of collagen and 50% of MH. Chicken hamburgers were analyzed by proximal composition, sodium content, collagen and color analysis. The influence of treatments on texture profile, cooking performance and lipid oxidation of chicken hamburger was also investigated.

There was reduction in lipid and sodium for modified formulations compared with the HCON. There was great influence for some parameters, such as luminosity, cooking performance and texture profile. The formulation C50M50 showed the best cooking performance when compared to the others.

The formulation adding 50% of collagen and 50% of MH showed the highest yield and water retention (WR), with the least reduction in diameter and shrinkage, as well as presenting the best indexes of the texture profile and the lowest oxidation index, being recommended as the best combination of fat and sodium replacement.

Harry Ardeshir describes some protein‐ rich ingredients which modify the texture and composition of certain manufactured foods

Cottage is a protein-rich food which is commonly consumed by people targeting weight reduction and athletes willing to eat whole-food instead of protein supplements. Yet out of common knowledge, the scientific community lacks solid evidences of the effect of the inclusion of cottage cheese in a diet. The purpose of this paper is to assess the evidences from scientific literature of the impact of inclusion of cottage cheese in a diet.

PubMed and Web of Science were searched for scientific literature dealing with “cottage cheese” and “diet.” There was no restriction regarding the type article type, date nor journal it is published in. References found to during the analysis of the articles extracted from database were also included. Studies search, screening and eligibility analysis were led in parallel by two independent reviewers.

This survey shows that cottage cheese is a good source of calcium (with 83 mg/100 g) – but not low fat cottage cheese because of its low vitamin S content (p < 0.001) –, a source of probiotic (1 serving providing the recommended dietary intake), a source of high quality proteins, reduces postprandial blood glucose level – healthy and type II diabetes subjects – (p < 0.05), is not linked to increased cardiovascular diseases nor cancer risks (p < 0.05).

Based on the findings reported in this review, the inclusion of cottage cheese in a diet can be advised for: women to build up calcium storage to fight osteoporosis; more generally calcium/vitamin D deficient subjects; athletes willing to increase their high-quality proteins intake through whole food consumption; dieters looking for low energy, high protein, high satiety food; untreated type II diabetes patients by reducing postprandial glucose level.

This paper aims to determine the nutritional profile of popular takeaway meals in the UK. Fast food has a poor nutritional profile; research has focused on the major catering chains, with limited data on takeaway food from independent establishments.

Random samples of takeaway meals were purchased from small, independent takeaway establishments. Multiple samples of 27 different takeaway meals, from Indian, Chinese, kebab, pizza and English-style establishments (n = 489), were analysed for portion size, energy, protein, carbohydrate, total fat, salt and total sugars.

Takeaway meals were inconsistent with UK dietary recommendations; pizzas revealed the highest energy content, and Chinese meals were lowest in total fat. However, there was a high degree of variability between and within categories, but the majority of meals were excessive for portion size, energy, macronutrients and salt.

The present study focused on energy, macronutrients, salt and total sugars. Future research should analyse the quality of fat and carbohydrates and micronutrients to provide a more detailed nutritional profile of takeaway food.

The nutritional variability between establishments suggests that recipe reformulation should be explored in an attempt to improve the nutritional quality of takeaway foods. In addition, portion size reduction could favour both the consumer and the industry.

Takeaway outlets do not provide nutritional information; due to the excessive nutritional profiles, regular intake may increase the risk of non-communicable disease. Therefore, there is a pressing need for this provision to help consumers make conscious food choices.

This is the first study to analyse energy and macronutrient content of independent takeaway meals in the UK.