Baking&Snack International - January 2012 - 12

A new potential for fat reduction
By Wayne Morley Health and wellness continues to be a major trend in the bakery and snack food industries, with many companies bringing out new or improved products under this banner. Indeed, many companies consider reducing salt, fat and/or sugar content to be a key part of their strategy. And now that many of the socalled “stealth” reductions have taken place, companies are turning to the use of technology to enhance the functionality of these ingredients. The challenges with fat reduction are perhaps more acute than those of salt or sugar reduction because many of the replacement ingredients are simply not good enough. Either they don’t really taste like fat, or they’re not clean label. Plus, replacing fat with a water phase may mean adding more salt and sugar. On the other hand, successful fat reduction can often mean a welcome cost reduction, and bakers or snack producers may reduce saturated fat levels even if they cannot bring down total fat. Fortunately, a couple of technologies appear to have potential for facilitating fat reduction without many of the drawbacks. In a recent research project, “Reducing the level of saturated fats in short-crust pastry,” Leatherhead Food Research studied the use of cryocrystallization to enhance the functionality of fat. This work arose from the developing interest in nanotechnology and whether small particles of fat, when used at lower levels, could mimic the performance of standard fat. The cryo-crystallization process brings atomized liquid fats and oils into contact with a liquid cryogen such as liquid nitrogen. The atomized feed particles then solidify instantly into free-flowing particles that have increased solid fat content when compared with standard processes, according to a 2001 European patent application by B.E. Brooker. The Leatherhead study compared the properties of an experimental short-crust pastry containing cryo-crystallized fat at a level of 24.3% (5% saturated fat) with those of a commercially available control containing 31% fat (10% saturated fat). The properties of the uncooked dough and the cooked pastry were evaluated using texture analysis, microscopy, fat migration measurements and sensory assessments. The two tables on this page readily show that many of the properties of the experimental dough and pastry containing the cryo-crystallized fat are similar to those of the control dough and pastry. The results of the microscopy analyses, fat migration measurements and sensory assessments support these data. Therefore, it appears that cryo-crystallization has the potential for reducing both the total fat and saturated fat levels in bakery products with acceptable results.

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Wayne Morley, PhD, is head of food innovation for Leatherhead Food Research. For further information, contact wmorley@leatherheadfood.com.

Texture analysis of dough
250 2000 200 1500 150 1000 100 50 0 500

Texture analysis of pastry

Control

Cryo-crystallization Trial

Control Hardness (g.sec)

Cryo-crystallization Trial Fracturability

Toughness (g) 10 x Extensibility (mm) 100 x Stickiness (g.sec)
Leatherhead Food Research

Leatherhead Food Research

www.bsimagazine.com

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January 2012

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Baking & Snack International Global Intelligence Report

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Baking&Snack International - January 2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Baking&Snack International - January 2012