Kudos Blends Ltd
PO Box 1937
Kidderminster
DY14 8YT

Tel: 01299 271 333
Fax: 01299 271 999

Salt - Fact Sheet

Sodium and salt

Most bakeries think of ‘salt’ as the ingredient we add to baked goods for taste and shelf-life, but there are other sources of salt that need to be considered when looking at a salt reduction program in processed food.

Common salt is made up of sodium and chloride. It's the sodium in salt that can be bad for your health, and has the associated risk of increasing blood pressure. There are other, ‘hidden’ sources of sodium that will also contribute to high levels in baked goods, such as sodium bicarbonate.

Salt calculator

Salt = sodium x 2.5

The recommended daily limit, as suggested by The UK Food Standards Agency (FSA), is 6g for adults. This means that the maximum sodium intake per day is only 2.4g


Salt and baking powders

Sodium is added to bakery products as both common salt and as a component of baking powder. A standard baking powder such as PELL Restrain will contain approximately 20% sodium, which is 50% when expressed as salt.

Kudos Blends offers 5 baking powders with varying levels of sodium and differing functionality, to suit a range of applications.



Salt levels in Cakes.

Typically, a standard sponge or Madeira cake can contain between 1.0g and 1.2g of sodium per portion, of which baking powder can contribute up to 70%.

Using PELL Low-Sodium baking powders can dramatically reduce the sodium (salt) level in bakery products. This gives bakeries the option to maintain added salt, either as common salt or salted butter, for organoleptic reasons, if desired.




How much salt needs to go?

The UK FSA model has identified that a 42% reduction in salt is required in crumpets, muffins and granary and a 30% reduction in salt is needed in cakes if the target adult intake of 6 grams per day is to be achieved .


Which baking powder should we use?

Kudos Blends offers a comprehensive technical advice service to support the use of PELL™ Low-Sodium baking powders. We can assist with calculating the levels of sodium in a bakery product and make recommendations for the appropriate baking powder to use to suit your required levels.