Yuck

A SERVING of Kraft's Ranch dressing boasts 370mg of sodium and 12g of fat. That is what nutritionists would describe as “far too much” and consumers would describe as “yummy”. The Kraft food company has brilliant scientists, of course, so it can easily take the salt out of its dressing. Alas, what remains tastes horrible.

Dip it in chocolate and we might have a deal

It has been a hectic year for food companies in America. In April the Institute of Medicine recommended a mandatory limit on the amount of sodium in food. In May Michelle Obama, who frets that American children are too porky, urged the industry to create healthy new products. More is to come. The Federal Trade Commission wants to curb the marketing of unhealthy food to children. The Food and Drug Administration is developing new labels to help consumers identify what is good for them. Congress may soon pass a new Child Nutrition Act.

Faced with such scrutiny, firms have made an array of promises. PepsiCo, Kraft, Kellogg and others have set up a body called the Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation. In May this coalition promised that by 2015 it would cut 1.5 trillion calories a year from the American market. Mrs Obama applauded.

Science can help. In a sprawling research complex north of Chicago, Kraft's researchers test new foods and tinker with old recipes. Panellists carefully analyse each bite for texture and flavour. Kraft promises to reduce the sodium content of its North American products by an average of 10% by 2012. But will anyone eat them? It is individuals, not corporations, who hold the nation's spoons.

Things that are bad for you often taste nice. Remove the fat from cheese and it becomes crumbly. Replace a biscuit's sugar with artificial sweetener and a scientist must add ingredients to provide bulk and turn the biscuit's surface brown. By far the most difficult challenge, however, is cutting sodium. Salt not only enhances taste but also acts as a preservative and adds texture. New official guidelines are likely to urge Americans to eat no more than 1,500mg of sodium each day. Currently they eat more than twice that.

PepsiCo is one of many firms to set ambitious goals for sodium reduction—in March it said it would slash 25% of sodium from its main products by 2015. Some firms remove salt furtively, since their customers equate “low-sodium” with “bland”. This summer ConAgra, a food giant, cut 29% of the sodium from its Chef Boyardee Beefaroni, a canned concoction of macaroni and beef, with little fanfare on the label. Campbell's, another canned-food maker, touts its sodium reductions, but few others do. Charles Vila, vice-president of consumer insights at Campbell's, describes the shift to less salty nosh as one of the firm's most important changes since easy-open cans.

Further sodium reductions, however, will be more difficult. In July Kraft launched a new version of its Oscar Mayer ham, with 37% less sodium. Any less salt and the ham would be reduced to a rubbery slab. Rhonda Jordan, Kraft's president of health and wellness, puts the problem simply. “You can't ask consumers to eat foods they don't like.”

More than 90% of Americans say that it is “somewhat” or “extremely” important to eat healthily, according to the 2009 Healthy Eating Trends survey. But consumers swing from fad to fad. In the early 1990s they worried about saturated fat. In the noughties they shunned carbohydrates. Today they clamour for firms to add fibre, omega-3 fatty acids, probiotics and whole grains to their products. This can have odd results, such as General Mills' whole-grain Cocoa Puffs.

For most consumers, a foodstuff's nutritional value is not the main reason for buying it. Over the past 20 years, according to Harry Balzer of NPD, a research firm, the main shift in American eating habits has been from foods that must be prepared (such as pot roast and peas) to those that are convenient (such as pizza and frozen sandwiches). Kraft may be investing in healthy foods—more than half of its new products in the past year were in the “health and wellness” category. But the company is also energetically marketing an expanded line of Macaroni & Cheese.

Taste, value and convenience are most important to the consumer, Mr Balzer says. “Healthy and nutritious” are secondary considerations. Americans know they should eat vegetables, but would prefer not to spend much money on them, prepare them or taste them. Campbell's may have the most ingenious new product on the market: a can of V8 V-Fusion hides a serving of vegetables in a fruity drink. It is just the right size to fit in a lunch box, next to the crisps.