The South Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) has announced the launch of food and beverage products developed across various popular processed food categories, which were created as part of the national Comprehensive Plan for Reducing Sodium and Sugar.
A total of 19 products were announced including packaged sandwiches with up to 45% of sodium content reduced and a 30% sodium-reduced packaged hamburger, developed in conjunction with Food Planet and Wonfoodrim Co., as well as strawberry ice creams with up to 50% less sugar than average developed with Jena Co.
“Other notable products include bakery items such as castella cakes, packaged soups, tteokbokki (rice cake) soup, sundae (Korean sausage) and iced teas,” MFDS Minister Oh Yoo-kyung said via a formal statement.
“This is in line with the government’s ambition to develop low-sodium and low-sugar products particularly within the processed and cooked foods sectors, to expand the available choices for consumers looking for less salty and less sweet foods.
“We chose items such as sandwiches, hamburgers and ice creams to focus on this year because of local data indicating that sodium intake due to convenience foods has been increasing, particularly amongst single-person households.
“There has also been a worrying trend showing that the sugar intake of girls between the ages of six to 11 is exceeding WHO recommended standards, with bread being the top contributor followed by ice cream.”
All the newly-launched products will carry a ‘less salt’ or ‘reduced sugar’ label, for consumers’ convenience to easily check whether products have reduced sodium and sugar content.
According to the local Sodium and Sugar Reduction Labeling Standards, lower-sodium or lower-sugar products must have at least 10% less salt or sugar content than the average value of distributed products or 25% less than similar products produced by the manufacturer.
Reformulation methods
The project has employed various reformulation methods to reduce salt and sodium content in these foods, including the use of low sodium ingredients to replace existing ones, and the increased use of vegetables for sandwiches and burgers.
For soupy products, the reformulation recipe made multiple adjustments to the ratio of high-sodium ingredients and salt substitutes to find the right ratio for an acceptable taste and mouthfeel to Japanese consumers.
“For the reduced-sugar ice cream, we opted to control the sugar content of ingredients used, and use the sweetener allulose to make up the taste,” said the ministry.
“Similarly for the iced teas, we also adjusted the sugar content and used monkfruit sweetener to make the taste acceptable.
“We will continue to develop on this project, and will choose the food and beverage items to focus on after a comprehensive review of possible products needed in the industry – some potential items include those with beneficial ingredients such as milk protein, calcium and so on, considering the intake sources and trends by demographic.”
