Kraft Foods Slashing Sodium by 10%
If it comes in a box and is labeled "food," odds are it's loaded with salt. Salt is the great preserver.
You want that powdered macaroni and cheese to last 100 years? Pack it with salt!
Here's the problem. Salt isn't exactly a human's best friend, it raises our blood pressure.
So that's why Kraft says it will cut the sodium in their products by 10% over the next two years.
That's a boatload of salt. In total, it adds up to 10 million pounds, or 750 million teaspoons. Bad news for the intergalactic salt miners!
Kraft makes many of Americans 21st century staple foods, like boxed macaroni and cheese.
The plan comes days after Michelle Obama called upon food manufacturers to reformulate their products to make them healthier for kids.
It goes for adults too. I know plenty of 20-somethings who still eat "the cheesiest."
I think a reduction of 10% is too small, though - almost pointless - I don't think it'll do much to improve health.
It seems more like a "green" move to use up fewer resources.
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Created / Updated: March 29, 2010
While this is a start, Americans will never enjoy true health until we stop eating stuff disguised as food. We've got to get away from prepackaged convenience foods and eat foods in natural form. In other words, shop the perimeter of the store. Fresh fruits, veggies, lean meats and whole grains.
ReplyI don't like the generalizations. Sodium doesn't raise my blood pressure. In fact I don't get enough good sodium in the form of sea salt, I know I should add more to my food. The worst part about Kraft items is the carb count.
ReplyNo the worst thing about Kraft mac and cheese (or Kraft dinner as they call it up north) is the fact that it poses as real food. If you must have mac and cheese, make it from scratch with whole grain pasta. eat a small portions and freeze the remainder for future consumption in single serving sizes. Homemade stove top mac and cheese isn't hard to make at all, it takes about the same amount of time as the Kraft junk. The sodium makes no difference to me because i would never eat that garbage. There is no cheese that is neon orange!
ReplyI saw this on another blog and laughed when I read it. Seriously, how is a 10% reduction in sodium that much of an improvement from what Kraft had in their stuff before? 600 mg of sodium to 540 mg? Wow, WAY TO GO KRAFT! Mac and cheese and Oscar Mayer bologna is still crap-food, whether it has a few milligrams fewer of sodium or not.
ReplySounds like another marketing gimick from our friends at kraft!
ReplyI'm not sure it really makes a difference. Salt has been correlated to blood pressure, and blood pressure has been correlated to disease. However, just smacking two correlations together is bad science. I've yet to see a controlled study that showed salt directly causes disease.
However, it has been shown that a low-salt diet creates insulin resistance...
Replyi dont know about anyone else but i never even add salt to the water when i make the stuff in the blue box (that i LOVE); although its just a little bit, anything to make me look less like a blow fish after eating a bowl, i will definitely welcome!
ReplyKraft is not looking out for my health by cutting salt but rather their bottom line that being the savings on their cost of the salt. I am a 58 year old man who has normal blood pressure all the time a low cholesterol count and eat anything I want and as much as I want. If you saw me you would consider me normal or even on the thin side. People stop believing all the hype companies are putting out their. Kraft is not a lone. The drug companies do it too. They even admit The H1N1 was hyped so much they have more shots than they ever needed left over. You know the old saying believe nothing of what you hear and half of what you see. Those words are more true today than ever.
ReplyI don't think that it's a pointless move at all. 10% doesn't seem like that big of an improvement, but what if that added 10% more years on to your life? I love Kraft blue box mac and cheese and I certainly welcome the idea of reducing the sodium. This could start a movement of other companies to do the same. It's a good place to start.
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