Amid rising government pressure and consumer concern, food makers are taking a new tack in their long-running effort to sell products with less salt. Instead of offering foods labeled as low salt that few people eat, they are gradually reducing the salt from some of their most popular items—and not making a big fuss about it on the label.
By next summer, ConAgra Food Inc.’s Chef Boyardee canned pasta will have decreased its sodium by about 35% over the course of five years without a word on the package. Campbell Soup Co.’s original flavor of V8 100% vegetable juice also silently dropped its sodium by 32% over eight years.
For decades, new reduced-sodium products often had dramatic reductions of at least 25% from their original version to meet government regulations on advertising sodium declines. Those products often tasted different, and sales typically were slim.
So food makers in recent years have adopted a new strategy: decrease sodium so slowly that customers don’t notice it
