By Anders Mølbak Jensen, Product Manager, Lipid & Fine Food Group Palsgaard A/S. This article describes the challenges faced by mayonnaise manufactures when developing a low fat or reduced fat mayonnaise. Taste, colour, texture and viscosity become very important parameters that must be dealt with when manufacturing a mayonnaise with a highly reduced oil content. The focus of the article will be on how to maintain texture and viscosity in low fat or fat reduced mayonnaises by introducing a newly developed Palsgaard product. Traditionally, mayonnaise is an oil-in-water emulsion stabilized by a blend of hydrocolloids and starches with an oil content of more than 65 %, which means that it is being viewed as a high-fat food, and as such a no go with many of today’s low fat and healthy lifestyle seeking consumers. Looking at the number of new product launches of mayonnaises with a lower fat content it is however, safe to say that the market for low fat or reduced fat mayonnaises is continuing to grow and that the tendency is moving in the direction of an increasingly lowered oil content: According to Mintel, the number of launches of new types of mayonnaises with a reduced fat content increased by more than 25 % from 2008 until 2009. Making a low fat mayonnaise According to European legislation, a mayonnaise product can only be claimed as being “low fat” if it contains no more than 3 g of fat per 100 g. Equally, to claim that a product is either “light” or “fat reduced”, the fat content must be at least 30 % lower than compared to a similar full fat product. However, to remain below the defined 3 % fat limit there are a number of important factors which must each be taken into consideration: Factors such as texture, taste and colour will all be affected by the lack of oil compared to a high fat mayonnaise: Colour Looking at full fat mayonnaise, the colour is often white or creamy, or even yellowish if the mayonnaise contains eggs, which means that the consumer tends to expect a low fat mayonnaise to look like this also. However, when the amount of oil in the emulsion is reduced the colour tends to become less white and more transparent. A problem, which is easily remedied; to make it less transparent colourings can be used, e.g. titan dioxide for whiteness and beta carotene to make it more yellow. Other ingredients such as skim milk powder and egg yolk may also help to reduce the transparency. Taste Taste is another factor which is affected by the low oil content. Because of the high amount of water in the water phase in Figure 1: Palsgaard® 3-6-9: A blend of stabilizers made from starches, guar gum and xanthan gum. the mayonnaise compared to a traditional mayonnaise, a higher amount of acid is needed to lower the pH value. This can make the taste more acidic, which means that a combination of different acids such as citric acid, malic acid or different types of vinegar would be preferable. Another possibility is to add flavour to the mayonnaise. Texture The texture is probably the most difficult parameter to deal with when developing a low fat mayonnaise. When the amount of oil is reduced the mayonnaise tends to become less creamy, and more sticky or gelled because of the high amount of water that has to be bound by Palsgaard Technical Paper - August 2010 How to make a low or a fat reduced mayonnaise 2
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