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. 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. simple change with, quite frankly, horrible results. Who would have thought it would make such a difference? NEW SOLUTION ‘ENGINE’ GMO AND ALLERGEN TROUBLES DOWN WITH SALT 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. 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 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 • Altering production parameters systems salt content from 0.2% up to 1.5% • Optimising emulsifier 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
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