The recently released FinRavinto 2017 survey shows that Finns’ salt intake is still too large, with the sodium contributing to a risk of high blood pressure. According to the survey, 86% of women and almost all men, 98%, exceed the daily recommended sodium intake. Valio’s patented Valio ValSa® milk salt makes it possible to reduce the sodium content in food without compromising on taste. Last year, almost 7 million kilos of low-salt Valio ValSa® products were sold in Finland.
Roughly half of the sodium chloride, i.e. regular table salt, is “hidden” in food products: roughly a quarter of it in meat products and another quarter in grain products. Cheeses and spreadables also need salt for them to have a good taste and texture.
Valio’s solution to reduce salt in cheeses and spreadables is Valio ValSa® milk salt, which is made of the minerals that occur naturally in milk, and which contains almost 80% less sodium compared to regular table salt. The first Valio ValSa® milk salt products were introduced in 2016. We have released low-salt versions of Valio Polar® and Valio Oltermanni® cheeses with Valio ValSa® milk salt, as well as a new product release in February 2019, Valio Salaneuvos® ValSa® gouda cheese. Valio Oivariini® spreads are also available in low-salt Valio ValSa® options.
Valio wants to tackle Finns’ excess salt intakes
In 2018, Valio created a Nutrition Agreement to help Finns reduce their excess sodium intake. With nutrition agreements, Finland is helping to implement the UN’s sustainable development strategy, among other things. Corporate and community commitments are a part of the nation-level work.
We have committed to growing our low-salt Valio ValSa® product selection. Our goal is to sell 7 million kilos per year of ValSa® products by at least 2020. We got close to this target as soon as 2018: we sold almost 6.85 million kilos of Valio ValSa® products, almost all of them in Finland.We will provide increased nutritional details in Valio Test Kitchen recipes, which helps consumers make low-salt recipe choices. All Valio Test Kitchen recipes now show the amount of salt per 100 grams. We are developing our search functions to make low-salt recipes easier to find at our Finnish webpage.
