Optimum level of salt in French-type bread. Influence of income status, salt level in daily bread consumption, and test location

Abstract

The objectives of the present study were to measure the ideal salt concentration in French-type bread among Argentine consumers in a home-usage-test (HUT) considering income status and salt content of daily bread consumption as covariables, and to compare the ideal salt concentrations measured in a HUT and a central-location test (CLT). For the HUT, 420 consumers each received a sample of bread with a single salt concentration, and for the CLT, 100 consumers each received 7 samples with different salt concentrations. For each sample, consumers responded if they found the bread "not-salty-enough," "okay," or "too-salty." Neither income level nor salt content of daily bread influenced probability of rejection. The optimum sodium concentrations (milligrams per 100 g of bread dry basis) ± 95% confidence limits for the HUT and CLT were 980 ± 74 and 1157 ± 87, respectively. These values are substantially higher than 628, the mean sodium content of the bread sampled from the bakery shops where consumers bought their daily bread. © 2008 Institute of Food Technologists®.