Physicochemical Properties and Polymorphic Behaviour of Tropical Fats. Their Potential and Practical Use in trans-Free Food Systems

MARIA REGINA RAMOS RAMOS; VICTOR ALONSO GARCÍA LONDOÑO; BORRONI, VIRGINIA; HERRERA MARIA LIDIA

DEVELOPMENT OF TRANS-FREE LIPID SYSTEMS AND THEIR USE IN FOOD PRODUCTS

Royal Society of Chemistry

Año: 2022; p. 119 - 138

Trans-fat legislation forced the food industry to reformulate its products. Tropical fats are semi-solid edible vegetable fats and natural sources of symmetrical stearic-rich triacylglycerols (TAG). They do not contain trans-fat but they contain a high percentage of saturated fats. To lower saturated fatty acid content, tropical fats were blended or interesterified with vegetable oils to obtain free trans-fat, low-saturated fat shortenings. These formulations, improved from the nutritional point of view, widen tropical fats applications in margarines, non-dairy creams, shortenings for bakery and frying, chocolate, and confectionery. This chapter summarizes successful examples of tropical fats formulations used as trans-fat alternatives.