Specialty fats: An Overview

Speciality Fats: An Overview By

Dr. Adel Gabr Abdel-Razek NRC, Egypt.

2 November 2015, Cairo, Egypt.

Fats

Classification of Edible Lipids

Fats – solid at room temp

Oils

Visible

Invisible

Visible Fat: a. Fat that is easily seen b. Examples: Butter on a baked

potato, layer of fat around a meat, etc.

Invisible Fat: Fat that cannot be detected by the eye

(fat that is found naturally in food). Counts for about 70% intake of fat.

Examples: whole milk, some cheese, egg yolks, nuts, avocados, etc.

Role and importance of fats in a diet Fats are one of the important food groups that are

included in your diet. Over the years, fats have got a bad name. Most nutritionists talk about reducing fats in your diet. However, all fats are not equal. There are so called good fats and bad fats.

The good fats, also known as essential fatty acids perform

a number of important functions in your body. So, you should not eliminate them completely from your

diet.

But, since fats contain a lot of calories, even good fats should not be consumed in excess.

(We should EAT SPARINGLY from the Fats & Oils Food Group)

There are a number of factors that determine the optimum amount of fat that you should consume. These include age, sex, level of physical activities etc.

a: Fat as a source of essential fatty acids. Linoleic (Omega-6) and Alpha-linoleic (Omega-3) fatty acids are not made by the body on it’s own so it needs to be obtained from foods. These fatty acids come from polyunsaturated fats.

Functions of Fat:

b: Carries Vitamins K, E, D, A, through the body

This is KEDA… (Get it?!?)

FAT Car

K, A, D and E are the four FAT-SOLUBLE Vitamins. (This means they dissolve in fat.) The FAT car picks up KADE and takes him where he needs to go in the body.

c. As a main source of energy 1g = 9kCal, as well as Provides a RESERVE store of energy. d. Promotes healthy skin e. Promotes normal cell growth f. Acts like a “cushion” and heat regulator to protect your

heart, liver and other vital organs (Imagine what would happen to a football player if all he had protecting his organs was a thin layer of skin!)

g. Satisfies hunger and helps you feel full longer (value which is due partly by the slower rate of digestion of fats in comparison to carbohydrate and protein).

h. Fats bring important ‘mouth feel’ and flavor to many foods, are necessary for the palatability in the diet.

i. Tenderization – EX: cake, add fat to tenderize and control gluten development

Speciality fats

What are speciality fats?

Speciality Fats are thus, tailor made to imitate the many positive traits of cocoa butter or other properties to make them more suitable for specific applications.

Speciality fats are not only used in the Chocolate Industry but also

find uses in:

• Ice Cream Industry- ice cream fats, ice cream chocolate coatings.

• Confectionery

• Pharmaceuticals-suppositories/binders.

• Milk fat replacers

• Non Dairy Whipped Toppings

• Cosmetics - lipsticks

Speciality fats perform functions that normal fats are not capable of.

For instance, a chocolate fat is capable of

setting or hardening on the surface of a cake when cooled and then melting completely to give a smooth clean mouth feel with full release of sweetness and chocolate flavor when eaten.

In contrast a normal shortening would not harden completely when cooled.

Also, shortening gives a waxy mouth feel and it

does not allow full release of flavors when eaten.

In reality, the chocolate fat (itself a speciality fat) has

been carefully and purposefully developed to impart specific product characteristics expected by the consumer.

Chocolate fat was customized to set at 20 ⁰C (when

cooled inside a cooling tunnel), to become softer at 32 ⁰C and to melt completely at body temperature (37 ⁰C) when the chocolate coating is eaten.

Cocoa butter (CB):

is the byproduct of cocoa bean processing industry and is obtained from the mature bean from the Theobroma cacao plant. It is an important ingredient in the chocolate and other confectionery industries. It's valued for its unique physicochemical properties which is given by its peculiar fatty acid composition.

Where does cocoa come from???

Why use speciality fats?

Food manufacturers are in business to supply needs dictated by consumers.

Increasing demand and shortage of supply for CB, poor

quality of individual harvests, economic advantages and

some technological benefits have induce for the

development of its alternative called cocoa butter replacer

(CBR).

In the CBRs the TAG compositions are similar but are not

identical to genuine CB.

Most of them are produced by either modification of

natural fat or by their blending in different proportion.

Equipped with advanced knowledge of:

fat chemistry & fat modification technologies.

Speciality fat manufacturers offer the food industry a large

selection of speciality fats, such as chocolate and chocolate

confectionary, bakery products and ice cream, targeted to meet

food characteristics requested by their client.

HISTORY 1528: Hernán Cortéz came to Spain with cocoa beans and the

formula for the chocolate drink 1615: The Spanish princess Anne of Austria married Luis XIII of

France, so chocolate came to France 1657: A Frenchman opened the first “Chocolate House” in London became as popular as Coffee Houses.

1674: The first solid chocolate in a stick form had been sold End of 17th century: chocolate came to Germany first pralines were made by a German cook 1792: A chocolate factory was opened in Berlin 1875: The first milk chocolate was put on the market.

INDUSTRILIZATION

The industrialization of chocolate reduced the production costs and allowed all levels of society to enjoy chocolate.

Children rapidly became a great market for chocolate makers.

This started a trend of novelties with the 1923 launch of the Milky Way by the American Frank Mars while his son invented the namesake bars, the Mars bar.

At the same time, Milton Hershey, another American chocolate producer vastly expanded his chocolate sales through clever marketing and capitalizing on impulse purchases of chocolate in main street grocery stores.

Hershey was called the "Henry Ford" of chocolate because he produced a quality chocolate bar at a price everyone could afford.

TODAY

The chocolate industry has grown to a worldwide industry topping $50 Billion in retail sales worldwide and continues to show healthy growth.

Recently, there has been an increasing trend

towards high quality chocolates such as chocolates with high cocoa content and or chocolates flavored with natural flavors and rich spices.

During this event we will discuss:

how speciality fats can be used advantageously in the

area of food applications?