INFORM September 2024

FAT SCIENCE

inform September 2024, Vol. 35 (8) • 9

impact the product’s flavor and nutrition profile—can be used as structuring agents in the water phase. Here we describe the latest research in plant-based fat replacements for a variety of food applications. PLANT FAT + ANIMAL PROTEIN A team of scientists led by Supratim Ghosh , professor at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada have been addressing the challenge of replacing the animal fat in real meat with a plant based fat. The motivation, of course, being the decades of research showing that eating a lot of meat increases our risk of developing obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease, due to high saturated fat consumption. The team focused on emul sion gels as a potential fat carrier, because of their favorable rheology and texture. The researchers developed soon-to-be patented emulsion gel made of faba bean protein isolate, canola oil,

and water. They used it to completely replace the pork back fat in bologna sausages made with lean ground pork. This hybrid bologna thus kept the nutritional benefits of being high in animal protein but was lower in fat than the original sausage. A panel of sixty volunteers tasted the hybrid bologna and reported liking it slightly less in terms of color, texture, flavor and juiciness with similar saltiness compared to the animal fat containing bologna. They ranked it overall as “slightly accept able,” while the meat controls with animal fat were “moder ately acceptable.” Ghosh and his colleagues attribute this to the fact that the hybrid sausage is much paler in color, since the emulsion gel itself reflects light. Phyllis Shand, professor emeritus at the University of Saskatchewan and a member of the research team said, “the paler color could potentially be a positive in a chicken-based product. It all depends on the final application.” Major classes of fatty acids in conventional vs. hybrid bologna Conventional low-fat bologna Hybrid bologna Saturated fatty acid (%) 43.4 7.5 Mono-unsaturated fatty acid (%) 46.5 65.4 Poly-unsaturated fatty acid (%) 10.1 27.1

Composition data comparing conventional low-fat bologna with hybrid bologna where the pork fat has been removed and replaced with an emulsion gel made from vegetable oil and protein.

Hybrid meat formulations with equivalent fat composition

Conventional low-fat bologna Hybrid bologna

Ingredients (wt%)

Lean pork

50.0 11.7 36.0

50.0

Pork backfat

-

Water

18.0

Plant-based emulsion gel

-

30.3

Other ingredients

2.3

1.7