Stricter Limits on Sodium for Foods Advertised to Kids

Food industry leaders decided to lead the way on advertising their products and restaurant items to kids. Members of the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (CFBAI), which includes 18 top U.S. food and beverage and quick-service restaurant companies, voluntarily opted to institute stricter healthful standards to foods advertised to children under the age of 12 through its Category-Specific Uniform Nutrition Criteria. The new criteria include lower sodium and reduced added sugar limits along with revised whole grain foods criteria.

 

For example, CFBAI members, who represent the majority of child-targeted food advertising, decided to decrease upper sodium limits in 13 of its 17 key food and beverage categories in response to the 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans and other health organizations’ recommendations. Specifically, several CFBAI sodium reductions are in categories that the Center for Disease Control (CDC) identifies as among the top sources of sodium in Americans’ diets. The leading sources of sodium, according to the CDC, now have reduced sodium limits with the new CFBAI criteria: breads (14 percent sodium reduction), cheeses (17 percent reduction), savory snacks (10 percent reduction) and mixed dishes (5 percent reduction).

 

Approximately 40 percent of foods on CFBAI’s current product list do not meet the revised criteria and will require reformulation, if these foods are to continue to qualify for child-directed advertising. Compliance for the CFBAI’s criteria is expected by January 1, 2020, to coincide with the same implementation date for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) new Nutrition Facts and Supplement Facts labeling regulations.

 

Sodium Reformation Assistance

Reducing sodium is one of the most challenging reformulations for food and beverage and quick-service restaurant companies. Although not always touted publicly, gradual sodium reductions contribute to the objective of providing consumers with healthier choices and, therefore, helping to improve eating habits. The need for stepwise reductions and transition periods is detailed in the multi-stage method demonstrated in FDA’s Draft Voluntary Sodium Reduction Initiative and U.S. Department of Agriculture’s school meal sodium reduction efforts, CFBAI states.

 

The sodium criteria CFBAI developed in 2011 also set reasonable limits that required significant but gradual reductions. Since 2011, many foods on CFBAI’s product list have undergone incremental sodium reductions several times. In setting sodium standards for the revised criteria, CFBAI sought to achieve modest but meaningful reductions in most categories to impact widely the foods advertised to children. Supporting the undertaking are CFBAI’s members: American Licorice Company, Burger King Corporation, Campbell Soup Company, The Coca-Cola Company, Conagra Brands, Inc., Danone North America PBC, Ferrero USA, Inc., General Mills, Inc., The Hershey Company, Kellogg Company, The Kraft Heinz Company, Mars, Inc., McDonald’s USA, Mondelez Global LLC, Nestlé USA, PepsiCo, Inc., Post Foods LLC and Unilever USA.

 

To meet the needs of food manufacturers for replacement of sodium or potassium enrichment in a range of food products, Cargill developed Potassium Pro^® Potassium Chloride. With a typical saline-like taste, Potassium Pro^® Potassium Chloride is a granular, food grade, odorless, white crystalline salt. Potassium Pro^® Potassium Chloride can be seamlessly implemented into formulation because it can be used as a 1:1 replacement for sodium chloride in product formulations because it offers similar functionality as salt—making it easy to incorporate into existing product lines.

 

In order to bring lower-sodium solutions to market more quickly, Cargill opened the first domestic, food-grade potassium chloride facility in Watkins Glen, N.Y. The move helps enable Cargill to upgrade its potassium chloride portfolio and to increase its capacity to provide the supply its customers need, including developing the range of offerings in its Potassium Pro^® Potassium Chloride line of products.

 

Sources:

Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative, 18 Leading Food, Beverage, and Restaurant Companies Adopt Revised, Stronger Uniform Nutrition Criteria for Foods Advertised to Children, September 20, 2018. Go to:

https://www.prweb.com/releases/18_leading_food_beverage_and_restaurant_companies_adopt_revised_stronger_uniform_nutrition_criteria_for_foods_advertised_to_children/prweb15777965.htm

 

Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative, The Children’s Food & Beverage Advertising Initiative Category-Specific Uniform Nutrition Criteria, 2nd ed. 2018 White Paper, September 2018. Go to: https://bbbprograms.org/siteassets/documents/cfbai/cfbai-white-paper-final-pdf.pdf

 

Cargill, Potassium Pro^® Potassium Chloride,
Go to: https://www.cargill.com/salt-in-perspective/potassium-pro-potassium-chloride

 

Cargill, Cargill adds potassium chloride production to help food manufacturers reduce sodium in their products, Jan. 15, 2018. Go to: https://www.cargill.com/2018/cargill-adds-potassium-chloride-production