Salting, one of the fundamental operations in Spanish cured loin manufacturing, is essential to preserve the product throughout its processing and storage. However, elevated blood pressure has been identified to be the major adverse effect associated with increased sodium intake. The partial replacement of NaCl with other chloride salts such as KCl, CaCl(2) and MgCl(2) has been proposed as a possible strategy to reduce the sodium content of these products. The aim of this study was to determine the salting time needed to reach the same chloride content as commercial dry-cured loins and, to characterise the first step in dry-cured loin production (salting), in loins salted with sodium partial replaced salts. The results indicated a reduction in the salting time when using KCl as NaCl substitute and an increase in the salting time when adding CaCl(2) and MgCl(2) to the mixture. Further studies need to be done in order to fully understand the influence of these low sodium mixtures of salts on the following manufacturing steps and the final quality characteristics of the product. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.