Campbell Soup Co. has defended its decision not to join the New York City-led programme to cut salt in food and insisted getting consumers to accept the lower levels of sodium takes time.
The soup maker said it “shared the spirit” of the National Salt Reduction Initiative but claimed the programme’s targets and timing was “not realistic”.
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“Our extensive consumer research indicates that people are unwilling to compromise when it comes to the great taste they expect from our brands,” said Dr. Chor-San Khoo, senior science fellow, Campbell’s Science Affairs.
“We believe the targets and timing proposed by New York City can not realistically be achieved in all of our product categories and still meet consumers’ demand for great-tasting foods.”
The National Salt Reduction Initiative is aiming to cut the salt in packaged and restaurant foods by 25% over five years – an achievement that would reduce salt intake in the US by 20%.
Signatories to the initiative, including Kraft Foods and Heinz, have reformulated existing products to include lower salt, while a clutch of firms not part of the scheme, including Campbell, have also reduced sodium.
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By GlobalDataHowever, there are signs that US consumers are not snapping up low-sodium or sodium-free foods – due in part to concern over how food tastes when salt is stripped out.
Juli Mandel Sloves, senior manager of Campbell’s nutrition and wellness communications, said the company would still look to cut salt from its products – but would take care to test the new lines on consumers.
“Bottom line for us is that we will continue to reduce sodium, but will do it in the timeframes necessary to ensure that we meet consumers’ high taste expectations,” Sloves told just-food.
“Sodium reduction takes time. It takes even more time to taste-test with people to ensure that we are meeting their high expectations.
“For instance, last year, we lowered the sodium in our condensed tomato soup by 32%. We did not bring it to market until we had taste-tested it more than 10,000 times. Ultimately we had consumers in all 50 states taste this one soup before we brought it to market. The total process for recipe work and taste testing took the better part of two years.”
