Marangoni’s research has demonstrated the relationship between food microstructure and physiological response in humans.  It facinating and important work.  I hope you will join us for a luncheon event organized by the Center for Advanced Nutrition.  Please RSVP.    The luncheon and speaker talks will be held at the Junction on USU campus.

ABSTRACT

Structuring liquid oils using non-conventional strategies: organogels, crystal hydrates and polymers

Alejandro G. Marangoni

Dept. of Food Science, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G2W1, Canada

Increasing public concerns over excessive saturated and trans fat intake from manufactured food products has lead to the search for alternative strategies to structure liquid oils into semisolid fats without addition of large amounts of unhealthy trans and saturated fats. Surfactant-like small molecules have been shown to self-assemble into long fibrils, effectively causing oil gelation at concentrations as low as 0.5%. Phytosterols, ceramides, and 12-hydroxystearic acid have been shown to be effective organogelators. Liquid oils can also be structured by microencapsulation within multilamellar vesicles, with walls composed of monoglyceride hydrates in the alpha-gel state. The surface potential of these monoglyceride vesicles is then adjusted so as to maximize inter-vesicle interactions and the formation of a cellular solid with oil-filled cells. These monoglyceride gels have recently been proven to have excellent functional characteristics in baking applications as well as for omega-3 oil stabilization. High-molecular weight polymers such as ethylcellulose have also been successfully used by our group to gel oil in the absence of water. This development of a polymer-stabilized organogel is very promising since these polymers are widely available and are food-grade. The development of a new way to make fat exploiting the self-assembly properties of food-grade molecules is at hand.

ABOUT DR. ALEJANDRO MARANGONI

Alejandro Marangoni is a professor and Canada Research Chair in Food and Soft Materials Science at the University of Guelph.

His work concentrates on the physical properties of foods, particularly fat crystallization and structure. He has published over 200 refereed research article and four books.

He is the recipient of many awards including a 1999 Premier’s Research Excellence Award, the first Young Scientist Award form the American Oil Chemists’ Society (2000), a Canada Research Chair (2001, renewed in 2006), two Distinguished Researcher Awards from the Ontario Innovation Trust (2002), a Career Award from the Canadian Foundation for Innovation (2002), an E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fellowship (2002) – given to the top 6 Canadian scientists from all disciplines – and the T.L. Mounts Award from AOCS in 2004.

Dr. Marangoni is a past chair of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada’s Plant Biology and Food Science Grant Selection Committee, member of NSERC’s E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fellowship selection committee, Editor-in-Chief of Food Research International (Elsevier), and an Associate Editor of the Journal of the American Oil Chemists’ Society (Springer).

Dr. Marangoni has co-founded two high-technology food companies and is the co-recipient of the 2008 Guelph Partners of Innovation “Innovator of the year” award for his discovery of a zero trans, low saturate shortening alternative which could revolutionize the baking industry.

Martini’s research can contribute to the formualtion of reduced fat products such as mayonnaise, spreads and dressings.  For more information please refer to Tippetts and Martini, Food Research International, 2009, 42:847-855.

Coasun claims there shortening alternative can be made with any liquid vegetable oil, water, and a food grade emulsifier already common in many baked products.  By structuring oil and water a firm paste results which apparently has superior functional properties as an all purpose shortening for baking. 

Coasun has an informative website at: www.coasun.com

We will follow Coasun Inc. here and keep you posted on new developments at this exciting new start-up food technology company.

Let’s be honest, food consumers can be fickle and major brands are understandably concerned about risking the equity built in the name. Consumer loyalty can be shattered if there is only a slight change in branded product’s sensory attributes.

Sensory panels may tell us that they actually prefer the taste of a new and healthier product … however if a new healthier product is only slightly different than the original, a better product may not be worth the risk to a multi-billion dollar brand.

It is therefore not surprising that food companies have eliminated or reduced trans fats using whatever economically viable solution presents the least amount of risk to the brand.

The prevailing solution for eliminating or reducing trans is to substitute a recipe with palm oil or a palm oil fraction. Palm oil is readily available and economically viable alternative. Unfortunately spiking world demand for palm oil as edible fat and a bio-fuel feedstock
is fueling concern from environmentalist around the globe.

Evidence presented by many suggests that the myristic and palmitic fatty acids found in palm oil are associated with a greaterrisk of cardiovascular disease. Palm advocates on the other hand dispute the claims and suggest that other components in palm oil support their assertion that palm oil is a healthy oil.

The food industry is certainly confronted with a difficult choice when choosing between reformulation options.

Ultimately the consumer will for vote saturates or fewer saturates with their wallets, or the government will step in and force changes as we have seen with trans fat labeling regulations.

Until that time palm oil will continue to prevail as the optimum solution for industry challenged to eliminate or reduce trans fatty acids and maintain consumer acceptance.

Dairy Management Incorporated, through its unified National Dairy  Foods Research Center has organized a panel of expert cheese researchers to develop low-fat cheeses with wide consumer appeal. 

Some of the research institutions invovled in this project include the Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences at Utah State University, through the Western Dairy Center, the Department of Food Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the Department of Food, Bioprocessing & Nutrition Sciences at North Carolina State University. 

The Food and Drug Administration regulations state that, to be labeled low-fat, cheese must contain no more than 6% fat by weight.  In the case of cheddar, this represents  an 80% reduction from its full-fat version.  A reduced-fat cheese label, requires a 25% fat reduction!

Low-fat cheese research is focused on mozzarella and cheddar cheeses.  Several processing technolgies are being investigated to reduce the fat level on these products while maintaining their functional properties, such as melting behavior, buttery flavor and texture.  Some of these strategies include the use of monoglycerides, lecithin and starches.  More information about this topic can be found at http://www.innovatewithdairy.com

Eating Omega-3-rich foods has been linked to lower rates of heart disease. Here’s how to up your intake.

Today, omega-3s seem to be just about everywhere. Just push your cart through the aisles of any supermarket and you’ll find omega-3s added to all manner of foods and beverages, including breakfast cereals, eggs, orange juice, and margarine. Even some pet foods have them! It shows how far these beneficial fats have come, capturing the attention of nutrition scientists and food manufacturers alike.

Our research laboratory specializes in the physical and chemical properties of edible fats and oils.

By building scientific knowledge of edible fats and oils we can develop new food materials and processes that will lead to food products with superior nutritional and physiochemical properties.

Our research facilities also include one the leading Sensory Evaluation facilities in the United States.

In a WOW, a water-in-oil emulsion is dispersed in a water phase that has the potential to reduce the fat content of salad dressings, mayonnaise and spreads down to 40%.  Extensive research is being performed by several research groups.  Among the leading scientists, Dr. McClements, from the University of Massachusetts, has studied these systems in detail.  His work was recently published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry (doi: 10.1021/jf061637q),  where he describes the manufacture of these nanoemulsions and provides an excellent characterization of the system. 

WOW emulsions have a big potential to be used in low-fat products and further research is needed to optimize not only the manufacture of the emulsions but also their stability.