For many of us, we learnt as kids that there are four tastes - sweet, sour, salty and bitter.

For some time now there has been a recognised fifth taste. It is UMAMI. It is defined as a hearty savoury flavour.

This specific taste is now being considered as another of the many candidates to help replace salt in the required reduction of salt in Europe and other countries.

It cannot replace the texture and preservative functions but is having significant impact in replacing the flavour aspects of salt. foods that have an increased umami level are perceived as being salt and this is the attribute being used by some companies.

So with a combination of potassium chloride and umami ingredients, some companies are successfully reducing the salt content of their products whilst maintaining flavour and other functions.