19 Sep 2013 Healthier food, by stealth
Under government, consumer, media, foodie, retailer, and nutritionist pressures, food manufacturers are responding to remake their products with less added sodium and sugar. But they are doing it quietly. In fact, the industry’s name for the strategy is stealth reduction. Here’s a look at the issue, and how ingredient companies are helping food makers quietly take sugar and salt out of processed foods.
Processed foods have been getting a bad rap in the media lately. Food writers such as Michael Pollan have identified them as the major contributor to America’s epidemic of obesity, heart disease, and diabetes. Newspaper articles document the local, organic, and all-natural movements as reactions to the food industry’s common qualities of tasty, cheap, and convenient.
But the average American isn’t an organic-loving locavore. The vast majority of consumers continue to make food purchase decisions on the basis of taste, followed closely by value and convenience. Food experts and nutritionists agree that popular foods such as frozen dinners, boxed cereals, canned soups, and soft drinks are not going away.
Almost all foods are processed to some degree, and to label all processed foods as unhealthy is not helpful to consumers, argues Eric A. Decker, head of the food science department at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
“This advice about what to eat is very elitist,” he says. “People can’t always afford to shop for only fresh fruits and vegetables. I get frustrated by the ‘eat more kale’ strategy of nutrition.”
However, Decker and other food industry experts say that slowing or reversing the occurrence of ailments such as heart disease and diabetes will require changes to the food supply. Reducing obesity, an important long-term challenge, means removing excess calories, particularly those that come from added sugars, from processed foods. In the shorter term, Decker says, food makers are focused on reducing sodium, which could more quickly benefit the 75 million Americans who have high blood pressure.
Indeed, food manufacturers are responding to pressure to remake their products with less added sodium and sugar. But they are doing it quietly. In fact, the industry’s name for the strategy is stealth reduction.
The reason for the stealth is that food makers have learned that many consumers won’t buy a product touted as having lower sodium or sugar. Without even trying the product, they will reject it under the assumption that it won’t taste good.
The stealth route, however, presents a high bar for food makers: The healthier food has to taste just like the original because, in many cases, it looks just like the original.
Luckily for the major food brands, food ingredient makers have some tricks up their sleeves to make this invisible transformation possible. Chemical and flavor companies including DSM, Corbion Purac, Celanese, Tate & Lyle, and Givaudan are offering strategies customised to specific foods and beverages that enable versions with lower sodium or sugar to taste like the original product.
In many cases, food makers can remove up to about 10% of sodium and sugar from foods without customers noticing the difference. One example given by food professionals is Heinz Tomato Ketchup. The label on the famous condiment makes no mention that the product inside has 8.5% less sodium and sugar than it did back in 2005.
But even with help, it’s no simple matter to remove more than 10% of sodium and sugar without noticeably changing the taste. And removing more than 25% may not only ruin the taste but ruin the food entirely.
Take bread, for example. It is the highest single source of sodium in the American diet, and it also contains added sugar. Without salt to control fermentation, dough volume increases too quickly. Without sugar, the yeast has no food. Sugar also softens the texture of the bread. Both salt and sugar contribute to the browning of the crust through the Maillard reaction. Salt acts as a natural preservative in bread, inhibiting the growth of microbes. In fact, for many foods, food safety and shelf life can be significant barriers to reducing salt and sugar…..