While the ANSES set maximum salt consumption levels in 2017 to 8g/d for men and 6.5g/d for women, the INCA3 study (Collective Expert Report, 2017) shows that they reach an average of 9g/d for men and 7g/d for women. For several years, Fleury Michon has therefore initiated a salt reduction process in its various products. It was the first industrial company to offer a range of delicatessen products with -25% salt in 2002.
For a product to carry the claim « -25% salt », it must contain 25% less salt than the market average.
The brand’s objectives: to reduce to -25% salt by 2020 in all its delicatessen -180 references- , an announcement that responds to the publication of a parliamentary report aimed at encouraging the agri-food sector to lower salt, fat, sugar and additive amounts in their products.
The change will take place in three stages for the number one of supermarket ham sales in France:
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- 64 references as of October
- 80% of the offer in April
- the last 20% in 2020
The manufacturer wants to achieve this salt reduction without the use of additives such as flavours or enhancers. The brand uses vegetable broths, meat bases and aromatic herbs when cooking its hams to obtain products that are less salty but still have a good taste.
The Fleury Michon group believes that ham with a reduced salt content could be the new standard very soon. As a result of this transformation in the composition of its products, many of them will move from C to B in the Nutri-Score on the label.
This will of transparency is not shared by the entire profession, which has led the group to leave the federation of ‘charcuterie’ manufacturers, which FM criticises for not encouraging the sector’s move upmarket enough. This decision was taken after the federation’s public position against the Nutri-Score. Fleury-Michon declares its commitment to « eating well », to the development of quality sectors (BIO, Label Rouge, etc.) and to health innovation (additives and salt reduction). This is why the brand has been offering, since October, pasta and vegetable roasts based on vegetables. Some recipes will even be organic to promote a healthy and balanced diet.
