Healthy oils: The next generation…
As for the new breed of high oleic oils (canola, sunflower, soy, algae), which boast a better nutritional profile (zero trans, low sat fat, high in monounsaturated fat) coupled with good stability for foodservice and snack applications, a lot of progress has been made in the past five years, said Dzisiak at Dow AgroSciences.
And while extra virgin olive oil tends to get the best PR owing to its association with the Mediterranean diet, Dow’s high oleic omega-9 canola has a similar nutritional profile, he pointed out. “We’re seeing a lot of growth in the snacks category in potato chips, crackers, croutons, and cereal bars.”
It can also be blended with small quantities of hard fats (which have higher melting points) such as palm fractions or interesterified fully-hydrogenated oils, to create bakery shortenings that can be used to replace straight palm oil (which is high in saturated fat) and keep labels clean (its oxidative stability helps firms avoid unwanted preservatives such as TBHQ), he said.