Macaroni and cheese products will be among more than 1,000 Kraft Foods brands that will have sodium levels reduced over the next two years, under a company plan announced yesterday. The reductions will average 10 percent for North American brands.
(Associated Press File)
Kraft to cut salt levels in many products
Company is latest to act voluntarily as US rules loom
Macaroni and cheese products will be among more than 1,000 Kraft Foods brands that will have sodium levels reduced over the next two years, under a company plan announced yesterday. The reductions will average 10 percent for North American brands.
(Associated Press File)
NEW YORK — Kraft Foods Inc. plans to reduce sodium by an average of 10 percent over the next two years for North American brands, including Oscar Mayer and Velveeta.
Kraft’s move follows similar efforts by Campbell Soup Co. and ConAgra Foods Inc.
Susan Davison, a spokeswoman for Kraft, said the company will cut salt levels in more than 1,000 products. Sodium levels in Oscar Mayer bologna are to be reduced by 17 percent. Some flavors of Easy Mac Cups, macaroni and cheese with up to 29 percent of the daily sodium intake recommended by the Food and Drug Administration, will have a drop of 20 percent.
“It’s good for consumers, and, if done properly, it’s good for business,’’ said Rhonda Jordan, Kraft’s president of health and wellness. “A growing number of consumers are concerned about their sodium intake and we want to help them translate their intentions into actions.’’
Some products, such as Grey Poupon mustard and Crystal Light beverages, will not be changed because they are already low in sodium, Davison said.
A serving of Grey Poupon Dijon mustard has 5 percent of the FDA’s recommended daily intake of sodium, according to the company’s website. Kraft has more than 100 products with either low, reduced, or no sodium, including Hint of Salt Ritz crackers, she said.
The stock of the Northfield, Ill., company rose 1 cent to $29.70 yesterday in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.
The food industry may face sodium limits from the US government if it doesn’t voluntarily reduce salt content in processed foods, said Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in an editorial published this month in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
American adults consume an estimated 3,900 milligrams of sodium a day — more than twice the maximum recommended by the government, according to a Stanford University study published in the same journal.
In the United States, 4.1 percent of new food and beverage products had reduced, low, or no sodium this year through March 17, compared with 2.5 percent in 2007, Chicago-based Mintel said.
Campbell said it has more than quadrupled the number of products with lower sodium levels to more than 110 since 2005.
ConAgra, the Omaha maker of Healthy Choice frozen dinners and Hunt’s ketchup, said in October that it would cut a fifth of the salt in its products by 2015.
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