LOWERING SALT, KEEPING GREAT TASTE
Lowering salt, keeping great taste
At Samworth Brothers we want our products to taste great, but also be better for people and the planet too. As part of our Responsible Business strategy, ‘Making Good Things Happen’, we’re creating more choices that are healthier, balanced, and made with the future in mind.
Across our business there are many examples in action. For instance, how do you reduce the salt in a delicious pork pie without compromising flavour?
Alastair Johns, Head of Sales & Marketing for our Dickinson & Morris heritage pork pie brand and Di Lewis, Health & Nutrition Manager for Savoury Pastry are part of the Samworth Brothers team successfully tackling this challenge.
“Our Dickinson & Morris pork pies are very much in the ‘taste and indulgence’ category’, says Alastair “and our consumers are a discerning lot. They appreciate a quality pork pie and are very sensitive to recipe changes as they love Dickinson & Morris pies as they are! Our mission must be to enhance and improve taste.”
For Di Lewis and the Innovation Team, this meant a period of extensive trial and research. “We started with a clean slate” says Di, “looking at every type of salt, different particle sizes and every option for saltiness flavour. The challenge when you remove salt, is to then work on building back the taste notes that may be missed.” The Samworth Brothers team trialled many dozens of salt types.
The solution has been a sea salt from Cornwall which harnesses the natural balance of sea salt minerals, including calcium, potassium, and magnesium, to reduce the amount of salt in formulations by 20% while achieving an even more intense flavour.
It now features in many Dickinson & Morris brand recipes to the delight of the brand team, nutritionists and consumers!
This project and other efforts are helping towards the targets we have set to shift towards healthier and more sustainable diets within our food system. Like others in our industry, we use the UK Government’s Nutrient Profiling Model (NPM). Our aim is that an increasing proportion of our product portfolio is classed as healthier under the NPM.
- By 2030, our target is to increase the sales weighted proportion of our products that are categorised as good for you to 60% (+9%) from the 2024 baseline of 55%.
- By 2030, another target is to improve our sales weighted average Nutrient Profile Model Score to 5.2 (-9%) from the 2024 baseline of 5.7.
Find more information on our healthy and sustainable diet strategy here: here!