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Food firms prep for salt-free wave

Brand Week Magazine, 11/12/07

Abstract:

As more baby boomers head into their 60s, some food marketers are betting that subtracting the salt will add up to more sales.

But they may be leaving one ingredient out of the equation: fickle consumer tastes. So far, the growth of the low-sodium food category is modest. Datamonitor Productscan Online reported that 4.1 percent of foods today are making low-sodium claims, up from 2.5 percent in 2002.

Nevertheless, some food firms see a big opportunity in the low-sodium category, most notably Campbell Soup, which unveiled a major initiative to cut sodium in its soups and beverages in 2006. An ad spending increase for low-sodium foods followed suit. Between January and August 2007, Campbells' ad spend for four lower-sodium soup products was $7.13 million, versus $32,300 in 2006, per Nielsen Monitor-Plus.

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