Zero/Low Trans Margarine, Spreads and Shortening

Authors: List, Gary; PELLOSO, T - CON AGRA FOODS

Submitted to: Journal of the American Oil Chemists' Society
Publication Type: Book / Chapter
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/14/2007
Publication Date: 6/9/2007
Citation: List, G.R., Pelloso, T. 2007. Zero/low trans margarine, spreads and shortening. In: List, G.R., Kritchevsky, D., Ratnayke, N., editors. Trans Fats in Foods. Champaign, IL: AOCS Press. p. 155-176.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: The reduction and/or elimination and content of trans fatty acids in the food supply has attracted world wide interest. Europe, Canada and the United States have enacted legislation regulating the levels of trans fatty acids in foods. Major sources of trans fatty acids in the U.S. diet are shown in Figure 1. Major sources include margarine (17%), animal products (21%) and baked goods (40%). Household shortenings account for 4%. Thus, over 60% of the trans fatty acids consumed in the U.S. come from margarine/spreads and baking shortenings. The reliability of the margarine data has been questioned, claiming that it is based on government data taken from 1994-1996 and that, since then, the average trans fat content of margarine has been reduced by more than 75% to less than 0.5 gm/serving and the saturated fat content reduced by 1/3 to about one gm/serving. A detailed review of trends in trans fatty acid consumption in North America can be found in Chapter 8 and the literature up to 1998 has been reviewed by the same author. Extensive discussions of various oil processing technologies to reduce trans fatty acids in food oil are beyond the scope of this chapter. The reader is directed to a number of reviews on chemical/enzymatic interesterification, fractionation, modified hydrogenation, structurally modified oilseeds and combinations thereof. This chapter will focus on the use of these technologies to formulate low/zero trans margarine/spreads and shortenings.