High levels of sodium in processed foods worldwide have led to sweeping awareness of the dangers of consuming too much sodium. After successful reductions in countries such as China, Finland and the UK, the U.S. is the most recent country with talks of potential government regulation.

Prepared food products manufactured by food processing companies play an important role in many restaurants, where every laborer is not a chef, and meals have to be consistently good and served quickly. Additionally, foods provided in shelf-stable packages offer advantages, including safe handling, compact storage, higher yields, increased efficiency of labor and lower waste disposal costs.