Where would sodium reduction be without technical experts who spend hours, days and months supporting food producers? In this series we sit down for a coffee & chat with local sodium reduction experts and partners. Our fourth stop in this series is Mumbai, India, with Mr Prakash Bhanushali.
Name: Prakash Bhanushali
Company: Escoffier Specialty Ingredients
Location: Mumbai, India
Qualifications: Post graduate, MBA
Expertise area: Functional food ingredients, product development
Tell us briefly what you do, Prakash?
Well since 1996 I have been present in the Indian food industry, starting my career of with Natural Food Colours, my vision was always to deal in value added Food Ingredients with a touch of difference in quality. I helped establish Escoffier in 2015 to offer a range of specialized complementary food ingredients to the Indian market, including clean label functional ingredients and exclusive flavors. Over the years, I’ve developed my knowledge and wisdom to create formulations for savory, snack, and culinary categories and I use that to support Indian producers to improve and develop their food products.
How long have you been working with sodium reduction solutions?
It’s now almost five years I have been working with different sodium reduction solution options.
How long have you been working specifically with SALTWELL’s solution?
About three years, we at Escoffier have found SALTWELL to be most convenient and reliable solution to sodium reduction.
Tell us about your experience of working with SALTWELL as a sodium reduction solution?
Ah, SALTWELL is amazing product. The best part is that it simply provides a solution to achieve sodium reduction directly from nature, without E’s and without adding KCL. The product has proved its integrity and consistency with our customers and now launching in India comprehensively.
What types of applications do you work with the most?
I work with all types of Food & Beverage applications but based on our portfolio the main application focus is on Snack Seasoning, Snacks including traditional snacks, Ready to Eat food products, and Sauces & Dips. I also support a few frozen food, gravies, soups, pasta, and vegan applications.
What do your clients say about the applications you help develop with SALTWELL?
Our customers are equally delighted to have such an attractive solutions to sodium reduction by simply replacing it with table salt. They use the product mainly to improve their nutritive score and offer more healthy products to the end user without compensating on flavour or function.
So how do you compare the functional and flavour performance of SALTWELL to other solutions?
Having said that undoubtedly there is significant functional benefits of low sodium in the food with help of SALTWELL. The product is well tried and tested in Europe, the UK and USA and with recent clearance by the FSSAI in India too. In terms of flavors, it does also contribute in line with table salts with no metallic notes, which helps in easy acceptance.
What trends have you seen recently and where do you see the Indian market heading with regards to salt and sodium reduction?
The trend on low sodium, low sugar and low fat has already taken a stream with Indian regulators emphasizing by releasing notifications and expressing their intentions to introduce front of package nutritional star ratings. In the coming 6-12 months, we expect to experience wide change and acceptance to Indian food especially on sodium reduction.
Finally, how can people get in touch with you Prakash?
If they are in Mumbai, they are free to visit me at our office in Thane. The address is on our webiste [www.escoffiersp.com]
People can also send emails to me prakash.bhanushali@escoffiersp.com or to my staff and team via admin@escoffiersp.com.
And they can call either +91 7208016114 / 115 or +91 99875 50776.
My team and I are able to help with the sodium reduction needs and projects regardless of application area we can support.
