Effects of Addition of a Palmitic Sucrose Ester on Low-Trans-Fat Blends Crystallization in Bulk and in Oil-in-Water Emulsions

CRISTIÁN HUCK IRIART; ROBERTO J. CANDAL; MARIA LIDIA HERRERA

Otro; proyecto realizado en LNLS; 2007

Sucrose esters (SE) can be used in foods as emulsifiers be- cause they are nontoxic, tasteless, and odorless and are di- gested to sucrose and FA in the stomach. They can also be used in pharmaceuticals and cosmetics and in other products where a nonionic, biodegradable emulsifier is required. In addition to their major function of producing and stabilizing emulsions, SE have numerous other functional roles as textur- izers, film formers, and modifiers of crystallization. Several reports have dealt with the effect of SE on the crystallization behavior of fats, both in bulk and in emulsion systems; how- ever, some of these results may be considered contradictory (1-11). For a selected fat in bulk, none of these authors has reported both effects: acceleration or delay with supercool- ing. Moreover, differences in behavior between fat in bulk and in emulsion were not explained by the mechanisms proposed in those articles. The use of techniques that does not allow studying in detail the early stage of crystallization can lead to misleading interpretations of the phenomenon. This early stage of crystallization is very important since it determines the later evolution of the system. A synchrotron source allows diffraction patterns to be acquired during real-time crystalliza- tion, and therefore, further and less speculative information about mechanisms of action can be obtained. The purpose of this work was to evaluate the different effects, acceleration or delay, of a palmitic SE addition in the early stage of crystal- lization of a low trans fat cooled isothermally in bulk and in emulsion systems. Its mechanism of action was also deeply analyzed.