Low fat spreads and low fat butters are areas of growing interest worldwide, due to the demands of consumers for products with fewer calories, compared to standard types of margarine and butter products.
This demand offers manufacturers the possibility of producing cheaper products.
For years, reduced fat spreads and low fat spreads with a fat content of 60% – 40% have been very popular, but now products with an even lower fat content of 40% to 10% are also appealing to consumers, and possible for the industry to produce.
Both margarine with 80% fat content and the very low fat spreads and butters described in this article, with 15% – 10% fat content, are water-in-oil emulsions.
By comparison with standard margarine with 80% fat content, the production of low fat spreads and very low fat spreads often presents challenges to producers with respect to emulsion stability, emulsion viscosity, production security and the stability and the organoleptical appearance of the low fat spreads and the very low fat spreads and butters.
To overcome these obstacles, PALSGAARD has developed specific emulsifier combinations for each type of low fat spread. By using combinations of emulsifiers, it is easier for the industry to achieve the products.
For low fat spreads and low fat butter with 40% to 25% fat content
Emulsifier combination:
Soft distilled monoglycerides with iodine value 60 – 70 (E 471) PALSGAARD® 0291
Special fats which crystallize very rapidly in beta-prime crystals PALSGAARD® 6111 PGPR (Polyglycerol polyricinoleate, E 476) PALSGAARD® 4110
The PGPR (PALSGAARD® 4110) secures a highly stable emulsion in the emulsification tank; the distilled monoglyceride (PALSGAARD® 0291) reduces the interfacial tension between the water and the fat, thereby securing a very good distribution of the water droplets in the emulsion and in the consumer product; the beta-prime crystallizing triglyceride (PALSGAARD® 6111) crystallizes very rapidly in the tube chiller with the crystals functioning as physical barriers in the partly liquid emulsion. Furthermore, PALSGAARD® 6111 works as an oil absorber in the final products and prevents oiling out, coursed by higher distribution and storage temperatures.
For very low fat spreads and very low fat butter with 24 – 10% fat content
Emulsifier combination:
Soft distilled monoglyceride with iodine value approx. 105 (E 471) PALSGAARD® 0295 PGPR (Polyglycerol polyricinoleate, E 476) PALSGAARD® 4175
The PGPR (PALSGAARD® 4175) secures a stable emulsion in the emulsion tank, but also provides a low viscosity in the emulsion which makes it possible to pump the emulsion to the tube chiller; the distilled monoglyceride (PALSGAARD® 0295) lowers the interfacial tension between the water and the fat phases and secures the right distribution of the water droplets in the emulsion and the final product without increasing the emulsion viscosity too much.
Visit PALSGAARD at FIE stand 3 P18, and attend the product presentation on Wednesday 30 November in conference room 515B.
