Salt of the Earth is zeroing in on lentil-based snack bites as an ideal application for its latest flavor enhancing ingredient launch, Mediterranean Umami Bold. The versatile, clean label ingredient has multiple uses, including boosting savory flavors and reducing sodium up to 45 percent in a variety of products. 

Mediterranean Umami Bold completely dissolves in the wet mixture of plant-based snack bites, lowering sodium levels by a third. It can help reduce the additions of certain expensive ingredients, such as flavorings and spice blends.

Social media trend analysis
Salt of the Earth conducted virtual research of social media, culinary blogs and retailers that indicates flexitarian and vegan Millennials increasingly are seeking new plant-based snacks that are better-for-you while offering a high protein content, vitamins and minerals. 

After analyzing the properties of different legumes, they narrowed the focus on lentils. The new Mediterranean Umami Bold formulation is designed to allow food companies to easily overcome lentils’ natural blandness while limiting sodium use.

“We developed an application for lentil snack bites that can be chilled, frozen or dried. Lentils have lots of protein and a high overall nutritional value, plus they blend well with other vegetables,” explains Rakefet Rosenblatt, food technologist for Salt of the Earth.

“We noticed that plant-based products are getting increasing attention on the market, yet most of the snacks are from broccoli, cauliflower or sweet potatoes, which lack the same level of nutritional value,” he notes.

Among its other applications, Mediterranean Umami Bold can be used in processed meats, salad dressings, hot dressings and in snack coatings.

Cleaning up ingredient labels
With plant-based meat alternatives accelerating to the mainstream – scoring highly against nutrition and eco-friendly benchmarks – their nutritional value is coming under scrutiny. High levels of fat, salt and sugar are common areas of alt-meat products targeted for reformulation.

In light of Salt Awareness Week (March 8 to 14) earlier this year, researchers at UK lobby group Action on Salt (AoS) called for a restriction on the use of “misleading” nutrition claims on foods high in fat, salt and sugar (HFSS). 

A new AoS product survey found over half (55 percent) of “healthy” snacks are considered HFSS foods, but most snacks do not display color-coded labeling on front-of-pack. 

In separate research recently published by the International Food Information Council (IFIC), 62 percent of consumers consult ingredient lists and 52 percent look at front-of-package information when making purchases.

Sodium reduction targets impact industry
The push to simplify ingredients while retaining functionality has never been more prevalent. Nestlé has recently doubled down on its reformulation efforts following UK media reports that 60 percent of the Swiss food giant’s F&B portfolio does not meet a “recognized definition of health.” 

Earlier this month, Chilean start-up The Live Green Co. created an algorithm to help multinational food companies “clean up their act” from a nutritional perspective. The AI-powered recommendation engine, Charaka, identifies animal, synthetic and processed food additives in a multinational’s products and accordingly suggests plant-based ingredient alternatives.