New ‘healthier’ oils for bakery, snacks and packaged foods

25-Jul-2010 - Last updated on 26-Jul-2010 at 07:50 GMT

Related tags Nutrition

Made from canola and sunflower seeds, the oils are said to have a ‘unique’ combination of high oleic and low linolenic fatty acids that delivers the benefits without oil performance or food taste.

Improved health, performance and flavor attributes are claimed for the new Omega-9 Oils Ingredient Solutions from Dow AgroSciences designed for use in baked goods, snacks and packaged foods. Dow’s David Dzisiak, commercial leader oils, said: “Omega-9 Oils have a healthier profile with zero trans fat, the lowest level of saturated fats among cooking oils, and are uniquely high in heart-healthy monounsaturated (omega-9) fat.”

A recent study by the International Food Information Council (IFIC) revealed that more US consumers (69 percent) are concerned by the types of fat they consume than are worried about the amount of fat they consume (67 percent).

Nutrition panels

According to a company statement the oils can “improve nutrition panels by reducing the bad fats and increasing the good fat” to help produce products that have the following nutrition label statements:

Zero trans fat.
Low (or significant reduction in) saturated fat.
High heart-healthy monounsaturated (omega-9).

In addition to cleaner labels through simple ingredient lists, produced without hydrogenation, interesterification or additives, the oils maintain functional product qualities including flavor, texture, mouth-feel and shelf life, said Dzisiak.

“Because omega-3 shortening is naturally stable, it can provide equal or longer shelf life to products containing traditional, high saturated fat shortenings,” added Dzisiak. “This is achieved without the use of antioxidants preserving a cleaner product label that consumers want.”

Applications include spray oils, cooking oils and shortening for baked goods, snacks and packaged foods.

Breads and cakes

Food oil use in the US alone exceeds 22bn pounds per year. About 60 percent of food oil is used in packaged foods with the top four key uses being salad dressings and mayo, margarine, biscuit and crackers and breads and cakes.

About 30 percent of food oil is used in food service, primarily for use in frying foods with the remaining ten percent sold as cooking oil.

Meanwhile, the first US company to use Omega-9 Oils Ingredients Solutions is Weaver Popcorn, Noblesville, Indiana. The company’s new Pop Weaver microwavable popcorn has a more than 50 percent reduction in total fat including 60 percent less saturated fat.

“Other popcorn manufacturers were removing trans fats by using industry standard palm oil or coconut oil, both of which dramatically increase saturated or bad fats,” said Dzisiak. “Our Omega-9 Solutions Team helped Pop Weaver develop a smarter solution – one that maintained their signature taste while improving the health profile of the snack.”