industry was powerful and, at least in Europe, instantaneous. Danish consumers, for example, reacted quickly, slashing their purchases of margarine by around 15% almost overnight, and butter grabbed new market share. Legislators moved almost as quickly, and since 2004 in Denmark, for example, oils and fats used in food products have been permitted a maximum of 2% trans fat content (excepting oils and fats of animal origin). For European margarine manufacturers, the message was clear: something needed to be done to reduce their recipes’ content of hydrogenated fats and restore consumer confidence. The US, on the other hand, has been somewhat slower to react, though it introduced mandatory labelling for trans fats in 2006. Most recently however, in June 2015, the FDA has finalised a determination that trans fats are not generally recognized as safe, and set a three-year time limit for their removal from all processed foods. Of course, the ban needs to be seen in the light of an 85% reduction that has been gradually achieved by the industry over the past 10 years, mainly due to the mandatory labelling, but the writing is clearly on the wall for US manufacturers: It’s simply not enough. So, while the industry is pushing to have very low amounts of trans fats allowable in, for example, the sprinkles on cupcakes or cookies, manufacturer focus is now on tuning recipes to deliver unaltered product quality in an uncompromising new, trans fat-free landscape. products and supporting mouthfeel to deliver an eating experience not far from that of butter. And their positive effect on shelf-life is well documented, too. Without trans fats, it’s much more difficult to consistently produce high-quality margarine. In fact, every part of the production process becomes more sensitive to a variety of factors that were comfortably, even transparently, handled by partially hydrogenated oils in the past. FACT BOX: The effect of trans fatty acid reduction • • • • • • Higher melting point Slow crystallization of the fat types Easier to overwork the fat product Post crystallization Change structure over time Storage: more sensitive to temperature variations HIGHER MELTING POINT One such factor is the higher melting point of other fat types. For optimum flavour release, it’s best to use fats that melt at approximately mouth temperature: around 35 o C (95 oF). In the old world, trans fats fitted the bill perfectly. In the new one, the only economically feasible, readily available fat type is palm oil, fractions of palm oil, or interestified fat types. That said, the melting point of palm oil is still a little higher than that of trans fats, and it lacks comparable functionality. Not only that, but in the US, and for reasons that may be difficult to pin down, the use of ‘tropical’ oils has long been given the cold shoulder. So palm oil isn’t a viable option in that part of the world. The melting point of a fat isn’t just important for the consumer’s eating experience, it also affects the ability of manufacturers to work with the fat during the production process. In a trans fat-free world, you get a mixture of high melting point fractions and liquid oil, giving a higher melting point and a tendency toward softer products. Perhaps the most important phenomenon, however, for margarine manufacturers to think about is the slower crystallization speed of trans fat alternatives – and this brings us to the particular focus of this paper. THE EFFECTS OF SLOWER CRYSTALLIZATION A lot has been done to address slow crystallization issues, but generally, manufacturers are simply unable to produce as much margarine from the same production lines as before. Process parameters, including machine settings, need to be adjusted to cope with the slower crystallization, and most often, investments in new tube chillers are demanded or, for example, the combination two machines where only one was needed before. Whichever route was chosen, final product quality just isn’t the same as that of trans fat-containing recipes. Without trans fats, for example, margarine begins to crystallize on the tube chiller shaft, reducing production capacity by perhaps 20% from morning to afternoon, as there is gradually less volume to work with. Flushing the tube with heat to restore capacity is one way to fix the problem, but has its own set of drawbacks and can’t be recommended. Lower production capacity is one effect of crystallization. Another is that, due to the slower crystallization speed of alternative fats, crystallization continues to develop for longer than the usual 24 or so hours during pre-storage, changing its structure over an ex- LIFE WITHOUT TRANS FATS No trans fats on your new ingredients list? Congratulations: life as a production manager at a margarine manufacturer is about to get much more interesting. Partially hydrogenated oils have long enabled margarine to step up to the plate, forming more stable 2
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