While recommendations to reduce sodium consumption align with promoting public health, they may also challenge current food safety uses of sodium in products on the market. The solutions are more complicated than just cutting back on sodium levels in foods like meats and cheeses.

The Institute for the Advancement of Food and Nutrition Sciences (IAFNS) is offering free webinars in January 2024 to examine new technologies, science, and efforts to address the roles that sodium plays in foods, including how sodium plays into food safety and quality.

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly shifted consumer demand away from restaurants and foodservice to home meals and ready-to-eat (RTE) meat and poultry products. As a complement for more convenience-type items, consumers began focusing on product expiration dates to limit trips to retail markets. Combined with consumers' nutritional focus on sugar, sodium, fat content, and additives, meeting these expectations and requirements is a serious challenge for meat and poultry processors. The most common challenges for reformulation are reduction of sodium and replacing additives such as nitrite and preservatives.