Monitoring research of the quality of confectionery fats and glazes by fatty acid composition

Availability of a wide range of fats and growing production volumes brings to the forefront the issue of reasonable choice of their use in the manufacture of confectionery products and requires quality control of the most common domestic market confectionery fats and glazes. Purpose of the work is to evaluate the quality of the fatty acid composition of fats and glazes manufactured in Ukraine these being in active demand in the food industry for various fillings of confectionery products, candies and chocolate. Subject of study: fatty acid composition and content of trans-isomers of confectionery fats and glazes which are used for the production of confectionery products and affect their nutritional value. Research methods: chromatographic method using gas chromatographs «Cupol-55» and «CrystalLux 4000». Results of the study: it was found that all samples of confectionery fats and glazes differ in fatty acid composition, which is associated with the composition of raw materials and methods of production. In particular, the vast majority of confectionary fats of the non-lauric type contained significantly less saturated acids, about 36-48 %, whereas the lauric type contained 70 %. A distinguishing characteristic was also the amount of monounsaturated acids, which were 25-31 % and 36-46 % for lauric and non-lauric confectionary fats, respectively. The total content of trans-isomers in the analyzed samples of confectionary fat was 0.12-2.88 %. However, elevated trans-C18 : 1 isomer content was shown for 2 of the 11 confectionery glaze samples: in confectionery glaze №155-D – 6,26 %, and in confectionery glaze № 264 – 21,11 %. The confectionary glaze samples are characterized by a more diverse composition of fatty acids at the expense of milk fat, as evidenced by the presence of short-chain acids C4-C10 and other animal fats (presence of conjugated linoleic acid). At the same time, the saturated acid content varied in a wide range from 25 to 47%. The obtained data can be used to produce food products with the predetermined consumer properties.

High stearic sunflower oil: Latest advances and applications

Regular sunflower oil is rich in linoleic acid. To improve its properties for different applications several genotypes with modified fatty acid compositions have been developed. Amongst them, the most remarkable have been high oleic and high stearic types. High stearic sunflower lines reported to date have been produced by traditional methods of breeding and mutagenesis. The mutations affected the expression of enzymes responsible for stearate desaturation in developing seeds. This trait has been combined with standard and high oleic backgrounds, giving high stearic lines with high contents of linoleic or oleic acids and thus different physical properties, increasing their functionality and potential applications. Nevertheless, for applications requiring plastic or confectionery fats, the oils have to be fractionated to obtain derived fats and butters with higher levels of solids. In the present review we present recent advances for the above mentioned topics related to high stearic sunflower oils.

Lipase-mediated interesterification of oils and fats for the preparation of bakery and confectionery fats

Bakery and confectionary fats were prepared by enzymatic interesterification of sal fat with palm stearin and palm mid fraction blends in various ratios. Slip melting point, free fatty acids, fatty acid composition, solid fat content and triglyceride composition were determined. Fatty acid composition revealed that the blends were rich in palmitic (13.9-58.5%), stearic (7.7-36.7%) and oleic (25.2-39.9%) with no trans fatty acids. Blends of sal:PSt (50:50), sal:PMF (50:50 and 25:75) showed high solid fat content at 20 and 25 °C with short melting range. After interesterification, plasticity of products increased, which were comparable with commercial bakery fat. Some of the blends alone showed short melting profile like cocoa butter. Interesterification produced significant alteration in the triacylglycerol composition of the blends studied. Blends and the interesterified products prepared showed favorable characteristics with no transfats and hence could be used in the place of commercial bakery and confectionary fats.