With over 2 million deaths annually linked to excessive sodium, the race for a "clean label" salt alternative is on. LOT technology, a deep-tech breakthrough from Landa Labs, has found the answer: reshaping salt crystals for faster dissolution and maximum taste. In this interview, Guy Fefferman, the inventor and head of the founding team of LOT, explains how their ultra-soluble flakes are tackling a $6B market, saving lives, and preparing for a massive global rollout through strategic licensing.

I’m a mechanical engineer by training. Eight years ago, I joined Landa Labs, the innovation hub of the Landa Group. Our mission is to develop deep-tech solutions that disrupt large markets. I’m passionate about invention and innovation, and what I enjoy most is the journey-from a raw idea all the way through to something that creates real-world impact and value.  Before joining Landa Labs I worked in several R&D positions, leading the development of deep-tech technologies.

The problem we are addressing is the high sodium content in dry food products, such as salty snacks, which is a major public health concern worldwide. Overconsumption of salt contributes to more deaths than any other dietary ingredient. On average, adult sodium intake is nearly double the recommended level. The World Health Organization estimates that almost 2 million deaths per year are directly associated with excessive sodium consumption and related chronic health conditions, all of which carry a significant healthcare cost burden.

Despite growing awareness, many consumers still struggle to reduce salt intake because numerous food products contain levels far above recommended daily limits. This issue affects not only health-conscious consumers but also food manufacturers, who face regulatory pressure to lower sodium content but don’t want to compromise taste.

Everyone wants to reduce sodium, but the food industry has yet to find a single solution that can simultaneously deliver:

We have developed a unique technology that enables all four — up to 50% sodium reduction, same taste, low cost, and clean label. Salt perception is directly related to how quickly salt dissolves in the mouth. Our proprietary LOT technology transforms standard salt into ultra-soluble salt. Because it dissolves much faster, it creates a stronger salt sensation, allowing for a significant reduction in the salt consumed without compromising taste.

Our target customers are ingredient and flavor companies as well as Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) companies, who are seeking effective clean label solutions to reduce sodium while maintaining the same taste.

Our proprietary technology transforms any type of salt into an ultra-soluble form without the use of additives, carriers, or altering its chemical composition, making it a fully clean-label solution.

Our LOT technology is based on our ability to control the salt crystal structure. We transform conventional granular salt into high–aspect-ratio flakes. These flakes are essentially big and small at the same time: one dimension is very thin, enabling rapid dissolution and high salt sensation, similar to very small particles, while the other larger dimension enables the easy handling and reduced caking, similar to large powder particles.

Our salt tastes like regular salt because we do not alter its chemical composition, only the particle shape. Our production process does not use any additives or carriers.

In addition, our technology produces low bulk density salt, which is particularly advantageous for topical application on foods such as salty snacks. Low bulk density enables more uniform surface coverage while using less salt overall.

Another unique aspect of our LOT technology is its ability to combine multiple ingredients into a single particle, with salt serving as a delivery platform for flavors and other functional components.

It is also worth noting that while salt reduction in salty snacks is our main focus today, the technology has many additional applications that can benefit from the ultra-solubility of ingredients - from foodtech to various industrial uses. For example, in powder laundry detergents, cleaning performance is often limited by the dissolution rate of certain constituents. This leads to poor performance in cold-water washes and eco cycles, as well as white residue on laundry - key consumer pain points. Transforming detergent powders into ultra-soluble forms can effectively address these issues and significantly improve the cleaning performance.

Our LOT technology has the potential to significantly reduce global sodium consumption without requiring consumers to change their behavior or compromise on taste. By enabling food manufacturers to lower sodium across a wide range of products, we can help reduce the incidence of hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and other related health conditions, ultimately saving lives.

At the same time, LOT technology supports the food industry in meeting growing regulatory and consumer demands for healthier, clean-label products in a cost-effective way.

Being both public health–driven and commercially scalable, LOT technology can improve health outcomes on a global scale while setting a new standard for sodium reduction in the food industry.

We operate under a B2B model and plan to scale our technology globally through licensing. Numerous leading global food and ingredient companies have already validated LOT’s ability to achieve high sodium reduction in their products.

The machinery for producing LOT salt can be integrated into standard production facilities of ingredient and flavor companies or added to existing production lines of salt producers, and our production process has already received the required regulatory approvals in Israel.

Recently, Sugat, one of Israel’s leading food conglomerates and the country’s dominant salt producer, has ordered the first full-scale industrial production line based on our LOT salt technology. This marks a major milestone toward large-scale deployment. The line will produce commercial volumes of LOT salt, initially to support the ongoing large-scale evaluation processes being conducted by our customers around the world, and then for the supply or LOT salt in our region.

The global sodium reduction ingredients market is currently valued at $6B and is projected to reach over $10B by 2033.

For broader context, the global savory snacks market, a major application for this technology, is valued at approximately $260B and is expected to grow to over $350B by 2030. The "better-for-you" snack segment is a fast growing sub-sector within this space as manufacturers move to reformulate their top-selling products.

The market for sodium reduction technologies is growing due to the regulatory pressure to reduce the amount of sodium in food products and the growing demand from customers for healthier, clean-label snacks.

Common sodium reduction solutions on the market, such as spray-dried salt, salt modulators, or potassium chloride salts, have clear limitations. They often rely on replacing sodium with ingredients that are either too expensive, have off-flavors, or both. Our LOT technology avoids these issues entirely. It produces pure sodium chloride flakes without any additives or carriers, delivering high sodium reduction while maintaining the same great taste of regular salt.

Over the next 2–3 years, we plan to launch multiple products using LOT salt and expand our collaborations with key market leaders. On the technology side, we will install the first full-scale industrial production line based on LOT technology next year. Additionally, we aim to extend the technology to other ingredients and applications that can benefit from ultra-solubility, broadening its impact beyond sodium reduction.

So far, we’ve been entirely self-funded. 

We are eager to connect with commercial, strategic and financial partners who are interested in our sodium reduction technology, share our vision, recognize the huge potential and impact of the technology, and can help drive our next phase of growth.

You can reach out via Email or LinkedIn!