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Run your analysis now →https://www.patsnap.com/resources/blog/rd-blog/salt-reduction-in-sauces-and-seasonings-patent-landscape/ · Patsnap · data cut-off 2026-07-31 · downloaded from the live page
Patent Landscape · Fermented CondimentsSalt Reduction in Sauces and Seasonings: Patents, Leaders and Open Claim Space
- Concentration at the top. the five leading assignees hold 66.3% of all 181 records in scope, and the top ten hold 86.2% - this is a field with a short list of gatekeepers.
- Filing is re-accelerating. after a quiet 2021 (1 filing), the complete-year count rebuilt to 4 by 2024, a +300% move that predates the publication lag distorting 2025-2026.
- Claims cluster in food formulation, not ingredients. 76.2% of records sit in A23L (foods and beverages) while baking, dairy and confectionery carry meaningfully smaller shares - flavour-delivery mechanics are the contested ground.
181
Published Records
66%
Top-5 Share of All Records
+300%
Filing Growth 2021→2024
US
Leading Jurisdiction
Filing growth compares 2021 (1 records) with 2024 (4) — a three-year span. 2024 is the most recent year we treat as complete: publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so 2025 onwards are still filling in and any growth rate that ends there would understate the field. Top-5 share is the combined record count of the five largest assignees divided by all 181 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
Published byPatsnap Research··6 min readSourced from Patsnap Eureka
Overview
What this landscape covers
This landscape tracks 181 published patent records filed between 2015 and mid-2026 that combine salt-reduction claims - potassium chloride substitution, umami enhancement, saltiness perception, microbial stability, shelf life and consumer acceptance - across sauces, seasonings and adjacent food categories. The search string pairs a salt-reduction or sodium-reduced-seasoning term with at least one of these mechanism or outcome terms, so records without an explicit reduction claim are excluded even if they touch flavour chemistry generally.
Because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, the 2025 and 2026 counts in the trend chart are still filling in and should not be read as a slowdown. The clearer signal is the 2021-2024 rebuild, which is a complete-year comparison.
Filing activity, 2017-2026
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Assignee ranking and totals. Derived from a Patsnap search on Salt Reduction in Sauces and Seasonings covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
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The Numbers
Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 181-record set: how filing activity has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses the claims actually sit in.
A dip, then a rebuild
Filings peaked at 10 in 2020, fell to a single filing in 2021, then rebuilt to 4 by 2024 - a +300% move over that three-year span. Treat 2025-2026 figures as provisional given publication lag.
Formulation dominates, ingredients trail
A23L (foods and non-alcoholic beverages) covers 76.2% of the 181 records, far ahead of A21D baking (26.0%), A23C dairy (15.5%) and A23G confectionery (12.2%). Ingredient-level classes like C07K peptides (3.9%) and A23D fats (2.2%) are thin by comparison - most of the documented invention is happening in how salt reduction is delivered in a finished food, not in novel raw ingredients.
Shares are the percentage of the 181 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Filing trend and technology composition. Derived from a Patsnap search on Salt Reduction in Sauces and Seasonings covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.
Go deeper on Salt Reduction in Sauces and Seasonings with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about salt reduction in sauces and seasonings and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
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Most-cited records and a representative filing
Representative Filing
Composition sweetness, bitterness, umami, licorice, lingering, sourness or saltiness perception prediction method and system
FIRMENICH SA
Filed by Firmenich, this record describes a digital-representation method for predicting how a physical flavour composition will be perceived across sweetness, bitterness, umami and saltiness, rather than claiming a specific reduced-salt formulation. It sits at the software/prediction edge of the field rather than the ingredient or process edge.Abstract trimmed for length; full claims available in the source record.
Highest-cited records in this set
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20060088649A1 | Ingredient systems comprising trehalose, food products containing trehalose, and methods of making same | 22 |
| 2 | WO2011019353A1 | Cooking of salt free or reduced salt breakfast cereals | 15 |
| 3 | US20070292593A1 | Ingredient Systems Comprising Trehalose, Food Products Containing Trehalose, and Methods of Making Same | 14 |
| 4 | US20150342231A1 | Flavor composition and edible compositions containing same | 13 |
| 5 | US20120164287A1 | Pasta Product Having Reduced Sodium Anti-Boil-Over Composition With Enhanced Cheese Flavor Notes | 12 |
| 6 | WO2011039414A1 | Cheese and method for its manufacturing | 11 |
| 7 | WO2009080423A1 | Food products with reduced salt levels | 11 |
| 8 | US20090053364A1 | Low-ingredient meat products and method for their preparation | 11 |
| 9 | US20120183644A1 | Cheese and method for its manufacturing | 10 |
| 10 | US8231925B2 | Ingredient systems comprising trehalose, food products containing trehalose, and methods of making same | 10 |
Citation counts favour older filings simply because they've had longer to be cited - read this as a map of influential prior art, not of current commercial priority.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Citation counts and representative records. Derived from a Patsnap search on Salt Reduction in Sauces and Seasonings covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
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What the data means for freedom to operate
Three patterns worth acting on before drafting new claims or scoping a design-around.
Concentration
66.3% / 5 firms
share of 181 records
A short list controls most of the documented art
The top five assignees combined account for 66.3% of all 181 records in scope, and the top ten reach 86.2%. That is a steep concentration curve for a 47-company ranking - new entrants are filing into a field where a handful of players already hold most of the claim territory.
Based on the full 47-company assignee ranking
Trend
+300%, 2021-2024
complete-year filing growth
Momentum rebuilt after a 2021 trough
Filings dropped to a single record in 2021 before climbing back to 4 by 2024, a +300% increase across complete years. The 2020 peak of 10 filings suggests this is a field that moves in bursts tied to formulation cycles rather than steady annual growth.
2025-2026 figures excluded as publication-lag affected
Composition
76.2% in A23L
share of 181 records
Claims sit in food formulation, not raw ingredients
Three-quarters of records touch A23L (general foods and beverages), while ingredient-specific classes like C07K peptides sit at 3.9% and A23D fats at 2.2%. Most inventive activity is in how sodium reduction is executed in a finished product category rather than in new substitute compounds themselves.
A record may carry multiple IPC classes
Eureka AI Agent
Looking for what nobody has claimed yet?
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to salt reduction in sauces and seasonings, with the prior art for and against each one.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Co-assignee relationships and derived observations. Derived from a Patsnap search on Salt Reduction in Sauces and Seasonings covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
Players
Who holds the claim space, and where it's thin
The ranking runs 47 companies deep, but activity - and recent momentum - is concentrated in a small group of established food and ingredient manufacturers.
Leader
39 records
leading assignee
One filer sits well ahead of the field
The top-ranked assignee holds 39 records against a fifth-place figure of 14 and a tenth-place figure of 4 - a steep drop-off that marks this as a leader-plus-long-tail structure rather than a crowded, even field.
Ranking covers 47 assignees total
Momentum
0 in latest year
across leading assignees
Recent-year activity has gone quiet across the top names
Several of the most active historical filers show zero filings in the latest year, including a -100% year-on-year move for one major assignee. Given publication lag, this likely reflects filings still in the pipeline rather than genuine withdrawal from the space.
Publication lag affects the most recent 1-2 years
Co-filing
10 pairs
co-assignee pairs identified
Collaboration is limited and inventor-anchored
Only 10 co-assignee pairs appear across the dataset, the strongest built around a single corporate assignee paired with named inventors across multiple filings - collaboration here looks more like internal R&D teams than cross-company joint filing.
Strongest pair recurs across three shared records
Recent-year filing momentum by assignee
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| General Mills, Inc. | 0 | — |
| Mars, Inc. | 0 | -100% |
| Cargill, Inc. | 0 | — |
| Valio Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Societe des Produits Nestle S.A. | 0 | — |
| VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland | 0 | — |
| Nestec S.A. (Nestle) | 0 | — |
| Purac Biochem B.V. | 0 | — |
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Assignee-level momentum. Derived from a Patsnap search on Salt Reduction in Sauces and Seasonings covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
What's Next
Where to take this analysis
The landscape points to a concentrated core and a thinner set of adjacent branches - both worth a closer look before committing R&D or drafting resource.
Map the leader's full claim set
With one assignee holding 39 of 181 records, a claim-by-claim review of that portfolio will show which formulation approaches are actually blocked versus merely filed broadly.
Explore assignee portfolios in EurekaStress-test the under-claimed branches
Peptide-based umami carriers and microbial stability in low-sodium fermentation show thin filing density - worth confirming with a targeted prior-art search before treating them as open.
Run a white space search in EurekaSource: Patsnap Eureka. Forward-looking reading of the same dataset. Derived from a Patsnap search on Salt Reduction in Sauces and Seasonings covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
FAQ
Common questions on salt reduction patents
The assignee ranking for this dataset covers 47 companies, with the leading filer holding 39 of the 181 records in scope - well ahead of the fifth-place assignee at 14 and tenth place at 4. The top five combined account for 66.3% of all records, and the top ten reach 86.2%, so a small number of established food and ingredient manufacturers control most of the documented claim territory. Newer entrants should expect to file around, not into, this core.
Complete-year data shows growth, not decline: filings fell to a single record in 2021 before rebuilding to 4 by 2024, a +300% increase across that span, after an earlier peak of 10 filings in 2020. The 2025 and 2026 figures look lower only because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, so recent filings haven't fully surfaced yet. Read the trend through 2024 as the reliable signal.
Three-quarters of the 181 records (76.2%) carry an A23L classification covering general foods and non-alcoholic beverages, with baking (26.0%), dairy (15.5%) and confectionery (12.2%) as secondary categories. Ingredient-specific classes such as C07K peptides (3.9%) and A23D edible fats (2.2%) are comparatively thin. This tells you most invention is happening in how a reduced-sodium formulation is executed in a specific food category, not in new substitute compounds on their own.
Branches with thin filing density relative to the core A23L formulation claims include potassium chloride bitterness masking, microbial stability specifically in low-sodium fermentation, peptide-based umami carriers that overlap with C07K, and sodium-reduction interactions in edible fats and animal feed. These aren't necessarily unclaimed, but the filing density is low enough to warrant a targeted prior-art check before assuming freedom to operate. Confirm with a fresh search rather than relying on category-level shares alone.
The most-cited record, a trehalose-based ingredient system for food products, has been cited 22 times, followed by a reduced-salt breakfast cereal cooking method at 15 citations and a related trehalose filing at 14. High citation counts in a searched corpus tend to favour older records simply because they've had more time to accumulate citations, so treat this list as a map of influential prior art rather than a ranking of current commercial importance.
Answers are grounded in the same dataset. Derived from a Patsnap search on Salt Reduction in Sauces and Seasonings covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
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Disclaimer. This page is generated from Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing on this page constitutes an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate, or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial, investment, or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Any patent, commercial, or strategic decision should be verified independently and reviewed with qualified patent, legal, and domain professionals. Patsnap makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, or fitness for any particular purpose of the information presented.
Machine translation. Assignee and organisation names originally recorded in Chinese, Japanese or Korean have been rendered into English by an AI translation step so that the tables stay readable. These renderings are best-effort and may not match a company's registered English name; the original name is what the underlying patent record carries, and it is what any Eureka query launched from this page uses.