Sodium content in meat products: suitability to labeling and the voluntary agreements

Abstract

This study was undertaken to evaluate the sodium concentration in meat products, to ascertain their appropriateness for labels and agreements set up between the Health Ministry and the Brazilian Association of Food Industries. A total of 96 meat derivative samples (italian salami, chicken pate, cooked ham, ham, sausage, bologna, tuscan sausage and smoked mixed sausage) were collected from different brands and batches. Using flame emission spectroscopy, the samples were analyzed for sodium levels based on the official methodology. It was observed that 46.9% of the companies showed values in nutritional labeling to be noncompliant with the Brazilian legislation. In fact, 31.2% of the brands assessed failed to satisfy the sodium reduction target decided upon for 2017. The italian salami was the product with the higher sodium content present a average value among the brands of 1716.11 mg 100 g-1. It became evident that merely implementing voluntary agreements had failed to provide total adequacy in the sodium content of the meat products. There is also great need for the industries to be more engaged in finding substitutes to minimize the sodium levels in the foods, without inducing significant alterations in the physicochemical, microbiological and technological features of the products, apart from the higher inspection by the government agencies in terms of agreement compliance and population awareness.