Kesko Oyj : We reduced the salt content of Pirkka Little Wolf outmeal rolls

'Pirkka Little Wolf oatmeal rolls are linked to our cooperation with the Finnish Basketball Association, and the target group is children and young people. That is why we decided to take this product back to the R&D team for an extra round of development, because a lot of salt is hidden in our food anyway. This is something that we can influence when we develop Pirkka products,' says Kesko's Product Research Manager, Heta Rautpalo.

Products are usually assessed by a panel of product development experts but, in this case, the winners of K-Supermarket's Pirkka bread competition were invited round the table to evaluate the development samples of Pirkka Little Wolf oatmeal rolls.

The panellists evaluated the appearance of the presented candidates on the basis of patterning, the baked surface and colour. They also evaluated the structure in terms of the consistency, crispness and crumbliness, and - most importantly - they assessed the flavour.

However, when the nutritional information on the rolls was being reviewed, it came to light that the salt content of the winning product would surpass the threshold for being categorised as high in sodium. Although one of the biggest contributors to the flavour of bread is the salt content, there was no desire to deliberately make high-sodium products for children and young people. The panel decided to task the product manager with requesting that the manufacturer provide one more sample containing no more than 1.1% of salt.

The new samples of the Pirkka Little Wolf oatmeal rolls, which have a salt content below the threshold for high-sodium products, underwent a sensory evaluation at the K-test kitchen before approval was granted for launch in the form of a pre-baked frozen product in spring 2017.

'The collaboration between the Finnish Basketball Association and K-food stores emphasises nutrition. Our Pirkka brand enables us to tell everyone in the country about the importance of the diet of active youngsters or about good lunches to pack in the training bag - the introduction of this roll is an effort in this direction,' says Heta Rautpalo.

This and other interesting stories about the sustainability work of K Group have also been published in Kesko's Annual Report 2016.