IN Brief:
- Nedmag has introduced Novasal Blend, a ready-to-use sodium reduction ingredient based on magnesium salt.
- The blend is designed as a 1:1 replacement for regular salt and targets 30% sodium reduction.
- Applications include bakery, dairy, soups, sauces, plant-based products, meat, fish, and ready meals.
Nedmag has launched Novasal Blend, a magnesium-based mineral salt blend developed to help food manufacturers reduce sodium without substantial reformulation.
The Dutch magnesium specialist has developed the ingredient as a direct 1:1 replacement for regular salt. The blend combines sodium chloride with Novasal Pure, Nedmag’s magnesium salt ingredient, and is positioned to deliver a standard sodium reduction of around 30% while maintaining taste and technical performance.
The product is intended for manufacturers working across bakery, dairy, soups, sauces, plant-based products, meat, fish, and ready meals. It is also suited to categories where salt reduction is technically difficult because sodium chloride contributes flavour, processing behaviour, preservation, water activity, and texture.
“With Novasal Blend, we are taking the next step in making sodium reduction simple and practical,” said Willem-Jan Bakker, business development manager food at Nedmag. “Food producers are under increasing pressure to reduce sodium, but they also need solutions that are easy to apply. Novasal Blend offers a direct 1-to-1 salt replacement that helps manufacturers reduce sodium by 30% without reformulation, while maintaining taste and technical performance.”
Salt reduction has remained one of the more persistent challenges in food reformulation. Replacing sodium chloride with potassium chloride can introduce bitterness, while more complex flavour systems can increase cost, complicate labels, or require deeper recipe work. In bread, cheese, processed meat, soups, and ready meals, sodium reduction can also alter shelf life, process tolerance, and consumer acceptance.
Novasal Blend is designed to reduce those barriers by allowing manufacturers to substitute the ingredient without changing recipe ratios or production parameters. The magnesium element also adds a mineral nutrition angle, although the main industrial value is in simplifying implementation. Reformulation projects often stall when an ingredient performs nutritionally but cannot be inserted into existing processes without extensive trials, validation, or sensory compromise.
Sodium targets remain linked to retailer pressure, front-of-pack labelling, national reformulation programmes, and Nutri-Score-style nutritional assessment systems in Europe. Manufacturers are increasingly looking for changes that can improve a product’s nutrition profile without forcing a full redesign. A direct replacement route is attractive in medium-sized factories, where technical teams may not have capacity for extended reformulation cycles.
Health-led reformulation is also being pursued alongside cost control, clean-label positioning, and operational resilience. Ingredients that support incremental nutritional gains while preserving process behaviour have a clearer route into production because they reduce the operational risk associated with recipe change.
The technical challenge varies sharply by category. In snacks and bakery, flavour impact is immediate and easy to detect. In soups, sauces, and prepared meals, salt contributes to balance across the whole formulation. In meat and fish products, functionality can be even more sensitive because salt interacts with texture, water binding, and preservation. A simplified replacement route still has to prove itself across commercial line trials, shelf-life checks, and sensory panels.
Nedmag’s launch sits at the practical end of the reformulation market. Novasal Blend is aimed at production teams that need lower sodium, stable processing, and a realistic route through validation. Adoption will depend on sensory performance, price, supply security, and how consistently the ingredient behaves across full-scale manufacturing.
