Contact:
Kris Berglund, (517) 353-4565
Sue Nichols, (517) 355-2281
11/17/97
CORN MOVES OFF THE COB AND INTO THE SALT SHAKER
EAST LANSING, Mich -- A Michigan State University scientist has shown that corn isn't just a food that sits on the cob waiting to be salted.
Professor Kris Berglund has discovered a way to turn corn into a salt substitute that lacks both sodium or the bitter taste that plagues other salt substitutes.
HalsoSalt is made from cornstarch that is fermented to produce lysine, a salty amino acid. Berglund, a professor of chemistry, chemical engineering and biosystems engineering, and his research team devised a way to turn powdered lysine into a crystal, so it looks and acts like salt - it sprinkles, it dissolves, and it cooks. His research associate is Hasan Alizadeh.
HalsoSalt is among the products featured Nov. 18-20 at the National Marketplace for the Environment conference and trade show, sponsored in part by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which provided some funding for the development of the product.
For consumers, this means a natural salt substitute and a palatable way to reduce intake of added salt in the diet. For the economy, it promises a new market for corn growers.
"It is exciting to have developed a no-sodium salt substitute that tastes good," Berglund said. "This will help people to reduce their sodium intake without feeling deprived."
Salt substitutes currently on the market have two weaknesses that Berglund set out to solve. One kind of substitute simply includes less sodium -- make it a sort of salt light. Consumers ordered to greatly reduce or eliminate consumption of salt must use these products with care or not at all. Another form of salt substitute relies solely on potassium, which has an unpleasant taste.
Lysine masks the taste of potassium in addition to providing salty flavor. Michigan State University has a U.S. patent pending on the product, and it is licensed back to LEC TECH Inc., which is owned by Berglund.=20
"The discovery that lysine monohydrate masks the bitter taste of potassium was a surprising achievement," Berglund said. "Equally important was the development of a crystallization process that results in lysine that looks like salt."
The salt market is a lucrative one. It is estimated that every American consumes as much as 10 pounds of salt per year.
Likewise, corn is plentiful across the nation. Corn already is used on 4,000 different products, from animal feed to sweeteners to pharmaceuticals and textiles.
HalsoSalt was developed in part through the MSU Corn Utilization Initiative, which recognizes there's more to corn than just food and feed. Besides the salt substitute, Berglund and others are working to develop polystyrene-like materials and non-polluting chemical additives. The Corn Marketing Program of Michigan also funded the research.
"Right now we have a lot of corn in the country that leaves without being processed," he said. "We're kind of like a Third World country in that we're exporting raw materials and importing finished goods. We're working on the potential to process more goods and at the same time eliminate a surplus."
###
RSS