Cargill Salt to open new potassium chloride facility in NY later this year

The facility will meet growing demand for the ingredient, which Cargill is sourcing from North American suppliers and will upgrade at the new facility, said John O’Dwyer, food product line manager: “Potassium chloride can help bakeries, food processors and food service operators dramatically reduce the amount of sodium in their products, while still meeting consumers’ taste and appearance expectations.

“We have provided potassium chloride to our food customers for a long time. However, as demand continues to grow, we needed to upgrade our potassium chloride portfolio and capacity to provide the supply our customers need.”

Potassium chloride in focus

The FDA’s plans to include potassium as one of the nutrients that must be listed on the new-look Nutrition Facts panel  (it is also raising the DRV for potassium from 3,500mg to an RDI of 4,700mg) - coupled with its new voluntary sodium reduction targets  - have focused attention on potassium chloride (KCL) in recent years.

However, its ‘chemical sounding’ name still puts some consumers off, say supporters of a citizen's petition asking the FDA to allow firms to use ‘potassium salt’ as an alternate name on food labels.

A friendlier name would demystify the ingredient and help the industry achieve the dual goals of lowering sodium and increasing potassium intakes, according to Campbell Soup, which is one of several leading CPG companies backing the petition.

Filed by NuTek Food Science  - which has patented a process that suppresses its metallic taste without requiring companies to add expensive flavor masking ingredients - the petition is also supported by the CSPI, the North American Meat Institute, the American Bakers Association, Unilever, and several other manufacturers, but opposed by The Salt Institute.