Tate & Lyle has signed a global deal with UK university-owned subsidiary Eminate Ltd for its innovative salt reduction technology.

SODA-LO is a clean-label product that aims to reduce salt levels in foods such as bread, pizza, pastry and baked snacks by up to 30%, without compromising on flavour. It is already being used by UK and US food manufacturers, including a major UK retailer the brand did not wish to disclose information on.

Karl Kramer, president of innovation and commercial development at Tate & Lyle, said: “The SODA-LO salt reduction technology is an excellent addition to Tate & Lyle’s Health & Wellness offering. Salt reduction is a high-profile priority for many of our customers who are committed to formulating reduced salt products to meet growing consumer demand.”

The brand’s exclusive worldwide licence agreement with Eminate, wholly owned by The University of Nottingham, will see the SODA-LO product commercialised globally through manufacturing, product development, sales and marketing.

The product is due to roll out globally in early 2012, with current sales quite modest as told to British Baker by a Tate & Lyle spokesperson.

Neil Davidson, chairman of Eminate, said: “Tate & Lyle’s relationships with global food companies and its technical and applications development expertise and resources, will help both parties to maximise commercial value from this exciting technology.”

• Tate & Lyle yesterday unveiled a 19% increase in adjusted operating profit to £194m - beating analyst’s expectations.

The company benefited from a bigger-than-expected £19m gain from byproducts, much of which is sold as animal feed. However it also saw a speciality food ingredients sales up 12% in constant currency terms year on year in the first half. Javed Ahmed, chief executive, explained that some 10-15% of its sales in the speciality food ingredients division now came from emerging markets.

Sales in the six months were up 19% on a constant currency basis to £1.54bn.