The Danish Consumer Council has given a damning indictment of Danisco's fat replacement product Salatrim, prompting the ingredients group to issue a statement reiterating its confidence in the product.
The Council said that excessive consumption of the ingredient could lead to gastro-intestinal problems and stomach trouble, and reports in the Danish press have claimed that it is particularly harmful to children.
Danisco's vice president Torben Svejgaard said that the bad press for Salatrim in Denmark could have given consumers the incorrect idea that the product is unhealthy.
"It is important for Danisco to emphasise that Salatrim is a constructive alternative to fat in the diet," he said. "Fat is important in that it provides food with a good taste. At the same time, fat can be a primary cause of an excessively high calorie intake for many consumers. Salatrim offers food processors a safe and effective way of improving the nutritional profile of foods without compromising taste."
Svejgaard said that Salatrim had been sold on the American market for years and that it had been well accepted by consumers there without causing any problems. All the components in Salatrim are present in the foods that a person consumes in the course of a normal day, he added.
Two of the groups testing Salatrim are the UK's Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Processes and the European Union's Scientific Committee for Foods. Tests carried out by both organisations showed that there was no traceable discomfort at an intake of 30 grammes, said Svejgaard, adding that the likely average consumption of the product was much lower than this level.
"In theory, an abnormally high consumption of any given product will produce a reaction. Everyone knows that you will get a stomach ache, if you eat too many cherries or drink too much coffee. And the same thing goes for Salatrim - consumption is meant to be in moderate amounts," he said.
Svejgaard said that Danisco expected to obtain approval for Salatrim from the EU in the near future, paving the way for the product to be launched in Europe.
Approval is not always enough, and bad publicity for a product can sometimes be hard to overcome. For example, Olestra, the fat replacement ingredient produced by Procter & Gamble of the US, had a similar bad press before its launch with claims that it led to stomach cramps and diarrhoea.
Approval from the US authorities was subsequently forthcoming, and the product is used in a number of products in the US, but it has consistently failed to live up to the potential seen by P&G before the launch, prompting the company to sell its olestra production plant last week.