UK food industry invites EU researchers to help meet salt targets 01 Sep 2011

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) and the Food and Drink Federation are inviting EU research organisations to participate in a new project to participate in a new independent project to help UK food manufacturers reduce salt levels in their products. This comes in response to the pledge by food manufacturers to reduce salt levels in foods by the end of 2012, which was included in the Public Health Responsibility Deal.

On behalf of their members, The BRC and FDF jointly launched a tender process for the project. The successful applicant(s) will be awarded a grant of £18,000 to identify methods by which salt levels can be reduced without compromising taste, shelf life and safety. The study will target ‘difficult’ areas like meat (bacon and sausages in particular), bread, cheese, cakes, canned fish, thick sauces and snacks (extruded and pelleted).

The deadline for submitting tenders in September 23. The winner will be announced in the second week of March and the project is expected to conclude in March, 2012. Promising projects would be recommended to the government to secure additional funding to develop them further.

More details on the BRC-FDF Salt project can be found here.

Source: Food Manufacture