Nestlé To Cut Salt Across All Global Brands

VEVEY, SwitzerlandNestlé announced plans to accelerate the reduction of salt across all its global food brands to support the World Health Organizations (WHO) salt target of no more than 5g of salt per person, per day, by 2025.

The decision will further reduce salt levels across Nestlés hundreds of savory products, including soups, noodles, recipe mixes, frozen and chilled meals and pizzas, as well as in its Maggi, Stouffers, DiGiorno and Buitoni brands. All new product launches will be specially formulated with an even lower level of sodium, the company said.

We have made great strides in reducing the salt content of our food products in recent years and we want to build on that progress," said Henri-Pierre Lenoble, Nutrition, Health and Wellness manager within Nestlé Food. Our goal is to offer consumers products that enable them to make practical, healthy nutritional choices, every day."

The announcement follows a Washington conference on dietary salt consumption organized by the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO), the regional Americas Office of the World Health Organization.

Nestlé was the first company in the food industry to introduce comprehensive policies for the systematic reduction of specific nutrients considered to be detrimental to health when consumed in excess.

Since 2005, the company has worked to progressively and continuously reduce the salt in its foods and make them healthier for consumers. By 2012, Nestlé recipes contained 14,043 fewer tons of salt than in 2005. The company is committed to reducing the amount of salt in its high-sodium products, such as ready meals, soups, noodles, recipe mixes and pizzas, by at least 10% in the next three years.

In October 2012, Nestlé invested $15 million to collaborate with New Jersey-based life sciences company Chromocell Corp. to identify compounds with the potential to be used as sodium alternatives in a range of foods. The collaboration, expected to last three years, builds on extensive work Nestlé has already undertaken to reduce salt in a variety of its food products globally, either by adapting existing products or introducing new ones.