Trans-fat Reduction in Formulated Food Products

With the mandate by FDA for labeling trans-fat content in foods, food manufacturers are seeking alternatives to the traditional hydrogenation process. Fortunately, the reduction or elimination of trans-fat in formulated food products can be achieved on several levels of the food manufacturing cycle in several ways that may involve both the ingredient supplier and food formulator.
A simple way to achieving this goal is the substitution of ingredients containing trans-fat for fat-free ingredients. For example, since trans-fat can be produced naturally in milk, it would help to substitute vegetable oil for milk fat whenever possible, without compromising product taste and functionality.
Another means of reducing trans-fat levels involves the oil ingredient. High temperature treatment used to deodorize RBD oils is a cause of trans-fat production in oil ingredients used for manufacturing products like margarine, and spreads. Food formulators can avoid the introduction of trans-fat into food products by using oils that do not need to be deodorized (e.g. olive oil) in their product formulations.
A more recent means that has been employed with great success by most formulators is the use of crystallization or fractional crystallization techniques on liquid oils to produce plastic or hard fats, thereby eliminating the need for the hydrogenation process, which is mostly responsible for the formation of trans-fat in food products.
Finally, a very innovative way that has been employed to develop trans-fat free margarines and spreads with remarkable success involve replacing the hydrogenation process with interesterification processes. A better approach to this process is the use of enzymatic catalysis rather than chemical catalysis. There are several advantages of enzymatic catalysis over chemical catalysis for transesterification processes.
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