Recently, a soy sauce marketed as “baby-specific” in mainland China has come under scrutiny for having a sodium content approximately 22% higher than that of a reduced-sodium soy sauce for adults, despite being advertised with only 0.2% shiitake mushroom powder and sold at around 7.5 times the price of regular reduced-sodium adult soy sauce.
According to a report by “Blue Whale News”, the product named “Organic Shiitake Soy Sauce for Hungry Babies (Reduced Sodium)” comes in 100ml bottles, with its product page claiming it is “baby-specific” and has a “62% sodium reduction.” Data from the related e-commerce platform shows that over 500,000 units of this product have been sold.
The product label reveals that this soy sauce contains 201mg of sodium per 6ml, which translates to approximately 3350mg of sodium per 100ml. In comparison, a reduced-sodium soy sauce for adults contains 2750mg of sodium per 100ml. Calculated in the same volume, the sodium content of this children’s soy sauce is approximately 22% higher than that of the mentioned reduced-sodium adult soy sauce.
The report states that the sodium content of several reduced-sodium soy sauces for adults on the market is lower than that of this children’s soy sauce.
The customer service of the brand explained that the claimed “62% sodium reduction” is in comparison to another soy sauce from the company containing 530mg of sodium per 6ml, not in comparison to reduced-sodium soy sauces for adults available on the market.
The product page highlights “naturally freshened by shiitake mushrooms” and lists the amino acids and trace elements present in shiitake mushrooms as nutritional components. However, the shiitake mushroom powder in the ingredient list appears last and is added only in a meager amount of 0.2%.
The report mentions that the nutritional research data of shiitake ingredients is cited on the product page and does not directly correspond to the testing results of this soy sauce.
This children’s soy sauce is sold at an original price of 29.9 Chinese Yuan for a 100ml bottle. In contrast, a regular reduced-sodium soy sauce for adults, typically sold in 500ml bottles, is priced at around 20 Yuan. When considering a uniform quantity of 500ml, the children’s version would cost about 149.5 Yuan, making it roughly 7.5 times more expensive than the adult version.
“Blue Whale News” reports that mainland China currently lacks national standards specifically for children’s soy sauce, and this product adheres to the standard regulations for regular brewed soy sauce.