I like drinking a tropical fruit flavoured "pop" sold by Asda. The drink has a faint salty taste to me but I enjoy it all the same. The ingredients label on the pop does not state that it contains salt/sodium chloride, but it does state that it contains the usual sodium benzoate and sodium citrate salts which I know are in almost all products of this sort. The nutrition information panel states that only a "trace" of sodium is in the pop. I'd like to know if it possible that the pop tastes salty because it contains these other sodium salts and not sodium chloride (if that makes sense!). Alternatively, would it be necessary for the pop to contain sodium chloride/salt in order to taste salty?
Apart from Sodium (present as the citrate and benzoate), none of the others are on the ingredients label.
I remember tasting sodium citrate a few years ago in my home-brewing days and I'm sure it had an acidic taste if I remember rightly. I don't remember thinking of it as salty, but I may be wrong.