Food technologists, food processors, health professionals and consumers seeking reduced-sodium products that don’t sacrifice taste need look no further.

Wixon, Inc., St. Francis, Wis., has brought a new salt substitute to the U.S. market. KCLean cuts the sodium content of regular table salt in half. More importantly, it has the same taste, texture, mouthfeel and functionality of regular salt.

A unique combination of potassium chloride and sodium choloride makes KCLean stand out from other potassium-based salt substitutes. The natural, proprietary flavor blend — part of Wixon’s line of Mag-nifique Flavor Technologies — lacks the usual metallic flavor or aftertaste usually associated with potassium chloride, giving it a distinctive table-salt flavor, according to Wixon executive vice president Chuck Ehemann.

“It really turns out to be about taste,” says Ehemann, adding that Wixon developed the product at the request of food processors, meat companies and snack food producers. “KCLean Salt now is the answer that they all can have to satisfy their customer.”

According to Wixon, a 2006 American Medical Assn. report concluded that if Americans consumed 50% less salt, 150,000 lives could be saved every year.

“It might not be all that long before the government steps in and requires lower levels of sodium,” Ehemann concludes. With KCLean, he adds, “companies can not only get a jump on such government intervention, but they can also get a marketing advantage over their competition right away.”