Baking & Snack - February 2009 - 75

FATS & OILS

Oil

OPTIONS
When functionality matters, choose wisely.

BY DONNA BERRY
ew food components have confused consumers
as much as fat during the past 30 years. Reduce
this, avoid that, add those, eliminate these. With
so many messages about dietary fats, it's no wonder it was easier to just eat out, where, until recently, the
nutritional composition of food service offerings was
not revealed.
However, today's consumer goes by the mantra, "what
you don't know can - and will - hurt you." Consumers have become ingredient savvy and are not forgiving
when it comes to undesirable fat ingredients - specifically trans and saturated fatty acids.
According to the 15th Annual Consumer Attitudes
about Nutrition nationwide online survey of 1,000
American adults conducted in February 2008 and sponsored by the United Soybean Board (USB), St. Louis, MO,
when saturated and trans fats were directly compared,
more consumers said that saturated fats were healthier; however, this figure was significantly lower in 2008,
compared with 2007 (36% vs. 42%). The narrowing gulf
between trans and saturated fat perception suggests the
need for food companies to develop products low in both
of these types of fatty acids, according to USB.
This is particularly challenging to bakers because solid
fats are essential for most baked foods applications. And
historically, those solid fats were obtained from animals

(butter and tallow from cows and lard from pigs) and
later by partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, which are
concentrated sources of saturated and trans fatty acids.
"Food companies are racing to meet consumer demands for better-for-you, no-trans foods," said Frank
Orthoefer, Ph.D., a fats and oils industry veteran currently consulting out of Memphis, TN. "Food formulators are responding to these demands using an arsenal of
alternatives to traditional fats and oils.
"Many of the major users have already switched,"
Dr. Orthoefer continued. "Some have simply reformulated using commodity oils and blends with more stable
nonhydrogenated versions. Others have gone the route
of trait-modified oils such as the low-linolenic acid versions of soybean, sunflower or canola oils. For situations requiring greater stability, some manufacturers are
using high-oleic acid versions of canola and sunflower
oils. The use of blends and interesterified mixes of traitmodified oils with highly stable, naturally trans-free oils
is also on the rise. To meet continuing demands, other
trait-enhanced oils are in the pipeline, including high- or
low-saturate options or those that are rich in omega-3s,
to name just a few."
Speaking directly to baked foods, "For applications
that require fats with structure and body, trait-enhanced
oils serve as a fundamental building block that, in
ᮢ All-natural domestically produced
cottonseed oil is emerging as a viable option
for blending into bakery shortenings.
NATIONAL COTTONSEED PRODUCTS ASSOCIATION

February 2009 / BAKING & SNACK

Baking & Snack - February 2009

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