Post on 17-Apr-2022
Salt reduction in cheese by natural milk minerals
Kristiina Oikarinen Product Developer
Valio Ltd, Research & Development
kristiina.oikarinen@valio.fi
© Valio Oy
Salt in our diet
• Salt sources:
– Processed &
restaurant food
– Rapid urbanization
– Changing lifestyles
• Salt intake – Currently the average salt intake is 9-12 g/day
– Excess salt in diet increases the risk of health problems, such as hypertension
*World Health Organisation 2
Bread
Soup
Cheese
Sausage
© Valio Oy TASTE
Healthy food with great taste…
• Idealistic, but how to do this…
– Salt gives taste and functions as flavour enhancer
– Reducing salt in products without compensation leads to bland-tasting products
– Consumer research confirms that people only eat healthy food if it tastes good!
*The Henley Centre
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Salt function in food
• What is the function of salt?
– Salt improves the taste of food.
– Many important roles in food processes – e.g. effects to the properties of dough and drives the cheese ripening.
– Acts as a preservative.
• Effects on taste?
– Decreasing salt amount in food leads to tasteless food
salt needs to be replaced
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Salt replacing
• How it can be replaced?
– Additives
– Other minerals
– Natural flavor boosters
• In cheese this could be specific bacteria strains that will give more intense and salty taste
• Adaptating consumers to lower salt level over time..
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Effects of salt replacing on consumer acceptance
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es E-c od
Low salt bland tasting food, shorter shelf life
Other minerals side/after taste (bitter, metallic etc.)
Additives/aromas
Consumers may lower their expectations to the product with ”less salt” -claims..
Not possible for every product (e.g. cheese)
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Communication around salt-reduction
Liem & Zandstra, 2010
Label information creates
expectations that drive the
perception and liking of a
product
Same soups, same salt level,
but different labels…
..the one with the label “Now
with reduced salt” is perceived
as the least salty
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Salt substitutes
• KCl also tastes salty
– However, it also gives a bitter taste
• Mg, NH4Cl bitter
• Intake of potassium is promoted – For health reasons
• Works as an antagonist to Sodium effects
These type of “salt substitutes” are easy to use!
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Can we find a new good tasting cheese, with low salt..?
Cheese is one of the high salt
containing products
A Solution: Milk Minerals!
Work for finding an innovative
way to lower the salt level..
?
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• in Finland since 1980’s salt labelling legislation and
the input of food industry replacing table salt by
mineral salts have led to the reduction in sodium
intake of ~20-30%*
• Breakthrough technologies needed for
further reductions >30%..
• Valio R&D works a lot with fractionating
technologies, and one of the fractions that forms in filtration processes is the milk mineral fraction
*(Karppanen and Mervaala, 2006)
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• Development of filtration techniques
made possible to fractionate
different components of milk
• Basic components of cheese, fat
and casein can be separated and
concentrated using various
membranes and diafiltration
• One fraction contains mainly the
milk salts, which are in fact a fraction
comparable with the salt
composition of saliva
This fraction is potential for
salting cheese or other
products
Milk mineral salt
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Milk mineral composition
Highest consentrations: P, Citrate, Ca, K
Potassium/Sodium ~2.8 (in mineral salt typically ~0.85)
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Mineral Concentration (mg/kg)
Calcium 1043-1283
Magnesium 97-146
Inorganic phosphate 1805-2185
Total phosphorus 930-992
Citrate 1323-2079
Sodium 391-644
Potassium 1212-1681
Chloride 772-1207
Modified from: F. Gaucheron, Reprod. Nutr. Dev. 45 (2005) 473–483
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Regular Polar Cheese contains 1,5% salt (Na 0,6%) Low sodium Polar contains 0,3% salt (Na 0,12%) Reducing salt content in cheese by using milk salts for salting of cheeses (instead of normal brining)
patent application WO 2011/039414 etc.
Natural milk minerals used as salt substitutes
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• We can make very good-tasting cheeses and spreads with up to 80% less salt.
• But for a claim: 30% salt reduction is already enough! • It is tested in other products (e.g. bread), and it works
there as well. • Important to see whether it gives a slightly metallic
after taste or not. • Plus to check shelf-life of products
Clearly less salt with Milk salt!
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Sensory evaluation (cheese)
• The cheese flavor has been evaluated as fresh, clean and aromatic, even though the salt content (calculated by Na) is around 0,2-0,4 %.
• When salted longer in Milk salt liquid, the taste becomes more metallic. Some people are more sensitive to taste the metallic after taste negative impression
• Any negative effects on cheese structure have not appeared
• Consumers have shown interest in buying low salted cheeses
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14% 10% 28% 38% 10%
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
k.a. 4,21
%
Total pleasentness of the cheese (N=29)
1=Really bad 2 3 4 5 6 7=Really good
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Conclusions
• Valio has found a natural way to lower the cheese salt levels as low as 0,2% (NaCl), and still having a pleasant taste profile.
• The salt does not have to be replaced totally by milk minerals >30% less salt is worth of the ”reduced salt” –claim.
• Milk mineral fraction is potential for salting purposes in other food products also!
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affect
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Acknowledgements
Gerrit Smit, Valio Ltd.
Emmi Martikainen, Valio Ltd.
Soila Kananen, Valio Ltd.
Thank you
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