General Mills Inc., who owns the Pillsbury brand, has filed a patent to lower the sodium and fat content in dough shortenings using a blend of nontropical oils and hard stock fat. The dough would be used to make biscuits, pie crusts and sweet rolls.

The patent is for what General Mills calls shortening particle compositions, or shortening chips. Dough is a big part of General Mills’ product line. Pillsbury makes several varieties of cinnamon rolls, biscuits and pizza and pie crusts.

The innovation reportedly involves unevenly distributing salt in the dough to make higher salt concentrations in certain spots, but lowering the overall salt content.

Source: www.bizjournals.com