Baking & Snack - June 2005 - 67

Special Care for Omega-3 Oils

daily recommended intake (DRI) values
that can be readily used as the basis for a
trans fat daily value (DV).
Last year, the Center for Science in
the Public Interest, Washington, DC,
petitioned FDA to ban outright the
use of partial hydrogenation, the process that creates trans fat. The Grocery
Manufacturers of America, also based
in Washington, on Dec. 1, 2004, issued
a statement in response to CSPI's action
questioning its real-world feasibility.
"The first challenge companies face is
finding alternative oils that give products
the taste, texture and shelf life consumers expect," the GMA statement read.
"For many companies, finding the right
substitute for each product they sell takes
from 18 months to three years or longer."
In addition, GMA stated, "The
most significant challenge companies must now overcome is securing
enough of the alternative oils to meet
production demand."
Some of those alternative oils look to
greatly increase in availability for the
rest of this decade.

DIFFERENT KINDS OF FATS
Free of trans fat, palm oil has risen in
volume worldwide during the past
15 years, according to Gerald Patrick
McNeil, technical director of Loders
Croklaan, Wormerveer, The Nether-

72 / BAKING & SNACK / June 2005

ᮡ Omega-3 oils suit many applications in
baked foods.
Ocean Nutrition Canada

lands. Palm oil now accounts for 28%
of all global oil use, compared with 32%
for soybean oil.
Palm oil is ideal for baking, Dr. McNeil said. It offers a butter-like texture.
It crystallizes, and it can give baked
foods a long shelf life. Palm oil can work
as a substitute for all trans fat products,
according to Loders Croklaan.
Yet there is one drawback: Palm
contains a high percentage of saturated fat. Whereas trans fat raises
LDL "bad" cholesterol and reduces
HDL "good" cholesterol, saturated
fat raises both LDL and HDL. Loders
Croklaan pointed to a report from
Maastricht University that found
replacing 1% trans fat has the same
effect on the (total-to-HDL) ratio as
replacing 7% saturates.
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans
released earlier this year stated people
should consume less than 10% of their
calories from saturated fatty acids. They
should limit intake of fats and oils high
in saturated and/or trans fatty acids.

NEW SOYBEAN OIL
Trans fat appears in soybean oil when

Recent developments have bakers
experimenting with omega-3 fatty
acids made from fish oils, in their
bread and baked foods as a way of
improving health appeal.
First, the Food and Drug
Administration last year approved this
qualified health claim: "Supportive but
not conclusive research shows that
consumption of EPA and DHA omega3 fatty acids may reduce the risk of
coronary heart disease."
Second, new microencapsulation
technology can keep ingredients made
from fish oil from smelling or tasting
like fish when they are used in bread.
Valeria A. Gorsuch, food applications
scientist for Omega Protein, Houston,
TX, gave tips on omega-3 applications
when speaking at the American Society
of Baking's annual technical conference
in Chicago.
* Refrigeration is acceptable for
short-term storage. For longer periods
of time, the fish oil must be frozen.
* Frozen fish oil should be thawed
gradually in a cooler before it is used.
* Once the oil has been tempered
and opened, it must be used immediately.
* It is best to avoid excessive exposure
to the four biggest enemies of any
polyunsaturated fatty acid: heat, light, air and
metals.
* It is best to bake products at 350°F
(177°C) for no longer than 20 minutes. If the
oil can be incorporated into a melted solid fat,
the product can be baked at 375°F (191°C)
for up to 40 minutes.
* Food-grade fish oil needs to be added
as close to the end of the ingredient stream
as possible.

the partial hydrogenation process is
used. The process eliminates linolenic
acid, which is 7% to 8% of soybean oil. If
this fatty acid is left in the oil, its instability reduces a baked food's shelf life.
New soybean varieties with low linolenic acid content, as little as 3% or even
1%, are entering the market.
Bunge Ltd., White Plains, NY, and
DuPont, Wilmington, DE, combined to
introduce Nutrium Low Lin Soybean
Oil, which comes from soybeans with
a linolenic acid content of 3%. It will
be marketed through Bunge North
America, St. Louis, MO. Bunge expects
to produce about 20 million lb of the
new oil from the 2005 crop. Full-scale
commercial availability should reach
nearly 1 billion lb by 2009.
Monsanto Co., St. Louis, MO, and
Cargill, Inc., Wayzata, MN, teamed up
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