facilitating fast evaporation before gravity can bring them into contact with the pan. Is spattering a problem solved, therefore? Not for European manufacturers, especially – and even less so as time goes on. GMO AND ALLERGEN TROUBLES To begin with, an increasing proportion of lecithin production is based on genetically modified (GMO) crops. That’s hardly a problem in North America, for example, where GMO-based products are commonly accepted. Manufacturers in that part of the world, therefore, continue to reap the advantages of highly functional soy lecithin. For European and American manufacturers, however, allergens such as lecithin won from soybean oil must be declared in foods. And in Europe genetically modified products are widely viewed with suspicion by consumers, activists and politicians alike. So using high-quality North American lecithin isn’t an option. In its place comes products sourced from South America or India. Typically inferior across a broad spectrum of attributes, these products rarely have the same power to reduce spattering. The simple reaction, for the majority of European manufacturers, has been to increase salt levels. Antispattering properties are positively influenced by salt content in the margarine because of its effect on partial steam pressure in the water droplets. DOWN WITH SALT Maintaining high salt content in markets that are increasingly demanding salt reduction is, however, hardly a strategy for long-term success. Instead, manufacturers have started down the path to creating frying margarines with ‘normal’ salt levels – while still using lower-grade lecithin. And many are finding the going tough, with increased spattering as a result. But salt reduction isn’t the only demand from the Marketing departments of leading manufacturers. With buyers beginning to favour lecithin-free, non-allergenic solutions, too, requiring the removal of milk solids or the replacement of soy lecithin with less efficient rapeseed or sunflower lecithin, developing low-spatter frying margarines is becoming increasingly difficult. R&D teams are finding themselves caught between a rock and a hard place. And many are surprised when they make a comparatively simple change with, quite frankly, horrible results. Who would have thought it would make such a difference? NEW SOLUTION ‘ENGINE’ To assist manufacturers with these challenges, Palsgaard has invested almost two years in compiling more than 1,000 multi-parameter trials into a comprehensive ‘solution engine’ that can determine how best to maintain or improve frying performance when swapping out ingredients, altering their proportions or changing process equipment and parameters. While similar testing has been carried out in the past, this is the first time the task has been approached with such diligence. Palsgaard used, for example, an extremely sensitive ‘worst-case’ test methodology that put recipes through their paces using electric, induction and gas stoves, different frying pan types (steel pans on gas turned out to be the toughest challenge) and different quantities of margarine (see figure 1). The company’s application specialists have systematically documented, for example, the effects of: • Reducing or increasing salt content from 0.2% up to 1.5% • Altering production parameters • Optimising emulsifier systems The results of the many tests are now being used to support reallife trials at Palsgaard’s application labs or on site at customers’ manufacturing plants, speeding up the time it takes to identify the best recipe for the lowest possible spattering. Figure 1: Palsgaard’s test set-up for evaluating the spatter of frying margarines. The ‘spatter collector’ is placed 30 cm above the frying pan. 60 grammes of margarine is heated at max. temperature until all the water has evaporated. Subsequently, the spatter marks on the collector are marked an counted. Tests are performed on various heat sources and with different types of frying pans. Additionally, as part of the research effort, five distinct categories were created defining different levels of spattering. These range from mildmannered Category 1 frying mar- 2 garines to Category 5 (see figure 2) recipes with fat-spitting qualities so aggressive they could only be used with special protection. Manufacturers trying to reduce salt content, for example, while using the same emulsifier system as for their regular recipe, are almost without exception certain to go a category or two in the wrong direction – most likely at the expense of market share. COMPLEX INTERDEPENDENCIES As any margarine application specialist worth his or her salt knows, the effect of salt in a frying margarine, for example, also depends on the emulsifier system and the milk solids present in the margarine. The processing setup, however, also has an influence as pressure, capacity, cooling and the actual setup of pin machines, crystallizer and tube chillers will affect the spattering performance of the frying margarine. It’s such interdependencies that make the job of maintaining spattering performance so tough. And the list is long, indeed. Consider the role of milk solids, for example. Their inclusion in frying margarine has a number of beneficial effects, ranging from the desirable browning effect of the Maillard reaction to improved taste and smell. Milk solids also destabilise the margarine, causing water droplets to become less regular, which reduces the tendency to spatter. And deposits of tiny particles on the base of the pan attract heat to enable the creation of small ‘chimneys’ that channel steam from the base of the pan safely up to the surface. Figure 2: A ‘Category 5’ margarine with fat-spitting quantities so aggressive that our technologists needed special protection to test them. released as the margarine heats up. Additionally, foam formed as the frying margarine heats up, and generated by citric acid ester or lecithin, also helps to keep a lid on the flying fat droplets resulting from the small explosions of heated water. A good emulsifier system is essential to distribute the inevitable explosions in a delayed pattern. For example, mono-diglycerides can be used to achieve a good emulsion, then hydrolysed or native lecithin can be added to make the emulsifier blend more hydrophilic. Lecithin, in particular, supports the creation of an emulsion that isn’t strong enough to form uniform wa- ter droplets that can simultaneously evaporate – and helps to avoid the extreme situation where larger droplets agglomerate to trigger massive explosions. See figures 3 and 4 for tests of emulsifier systems with IP soy lecithin and rape seed lecithin respectively. From the two figures it is evident that the type of lecithin plays a huge role in anti-spattering behaviour, especially when the salt content is reduced. Removing milk solids as part of creating a non-allergen product, therefore, has a profound effect on margarine performance. CONTROL STRATEGIES To control spattering, you need to enable gradual rather than rapid evaporation of the water droplets 3
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