Location: Functional Foods Research
2025 Annual Report
Objectives
Objective 1. Stabilize sensitive and bioactive food ingredients, improve shelf-life, and reduce food waste with optimized natural antioxidants and plant extracts.
Sub-Objective 1.A. Evaluate antioxidant activity of combinations of antioxidants in frying oils and fried foods.
Sub-objective 1.B. Evaluate antioxidants or natural antioxidant extracts for protection of polyunsaturated and omega-3 oils and bioactive lipids and to extend shelf-life of whole foods and food ingredients.
Objective 2. Enable oleogel applications to reduce saturated fats in foods.
Sub-Objective 2.A. Investigate and optimize the physical and sensory properties as well as the oxidative stability of edible oleogels.
Sub-objective 2.B. Evaluate interesterified natural waxes, waxes with vegetable oils, fatty alcohols or fatty acids, as potential new oleogelators.
Objective 3. Improve commercial value and sustainable food production through recovery of healthful bioactive ingredients from food processing by-products or waste.
Approach
Approximately 30% of the food supply in the United States is wasted and the worldwide problem is even larger. This waste represents a large strain on the environment and on the entire food production enterprise. According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), about 20% of the food waste in the United States is due to confusion about the meaning and safety of foods labeled with “best before” and “use by” dates. This means that extending shelf-stability of foods can have an impact in reducing food waste. There is also concern about the healthfulness of processed foods, including the high content of saturated fats, which consumers are advised to limit in the diet. However, reducing the saturated fat content of foods by substituting with healthier fats can influence product texture and mouthfeel, as well as the oxidative stability and shelf-life. The research of the next five years will enable the commercial development of natural antioxidants needed to improve the oxidative stability and shelf-life of foods formulated with a lower saturated fat content. Antioxidants will improve the stability of frying oils, fried foods, and high-value foods such as nuts and protein replacement bars. Oleogels will be developed with improved physical and melting properties for margarines and shortenings and other food applications that require hard fats and will have lower amounts of saturated fats and zero trans fats. New value-added ingredients such as antioxidants and bioactive lipids will be mined and characterized from low-value agricultural inputs. This research, together with complimentary technology and policy development strategies, will contribute to efforts to reduce food waste and improve the healthfulness of the food supply.
Progress Report
This is the final report for Project #5010-44000-054-000D, which terminated 04/12/2025, and is replaced by Project #5010-30600-002-000D, titled “Improving Healthfulness and Shelf-Life of Foods Containing Fats and Oils”.
Overall, under objective 1, the ARS researchers in Peoria, IL, have developed several new antioxidants and antioxidant combinations using natural materials and extracts that may be used as substitutes for synthetic antioxidants in frying oils, vegetable oils, fish oils; and in food products containing oils and bioactive lipids. It allows restaurants and food companies to use healthier oils high in monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats when adding these antioxidants to enhance their stability, which results in healthier foods for U.S. consumers. In addition, since imported palm oil is often used in fried and processed foods, this research benefits U.S. farmers and oilseed processors as it will allow for greater use of U.S. produced vegetable oils instead of palm oil, thus reducing reliance on imported oils and fats.
For Objective 1A new natural antioxidants and natural antioxidant combinations for frying oils such as avocado, canola, corn, olive oil, high oleic soybean oil, and soybean oil were developed. For the first time, natural amino acids and their potassium and sodium salts were demonstrated to protect frying oils from degradation and polymerization (a reaction that makes frying oils thick and sticky). The researchers demonstrated that sodium and potassium salts of carbonates and bicarbonates, which are common kitchen ingredients found in baking soda and baking powder, also effectively protected frying oils from degradation. The carbonates and bicarbonates enhanced antioxidant activity of natural rosemary extract, epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG, the main component in green tea extract), ascorbic acid (vitamin C), and ascorbyl palmitate (fat soluble vitamin C). Tocopherols (Vitamin E) are one of the most important antioxidants for both human cells as well as vegetable oils and are found in plant oils, nuts and seeds, and other plant-foods. Preserving the natural tocopherols in frying oils helps prolong the shelf-life of fried foods. The researchers discovered that these new antioxidants helped to protect the natural tocopherols in frying oils and enhanced their antioxidant activity during frying.
Bioactive lipids are oil components found in foods that may help improve health or prevent or fight disease. Examples include omega-3 fatty acids, found in fish oils, and carotenoids such as lycopene and beta-carotene , found as co-products of cereal grain and vegetable processing. Bioactive lipids and oils like soybean oil, corn oil, and other plant oils need to be protected from degradation by oxygen, heat and light during processing and storage. Under Objective 1B, ARS researchers in Peoria, IL, developed new antioxidant extracts from waste Osage orange fruit (used to produce Osage orange oil), and from spent coffee grounds (SCG). These extracts protected both soybean oil and omega-3 fatty acids in fish oil. The development of these technologies allows for the replacement of synthetic antioxidants so that oil processors and food companies can preserve bioactive lipids and oils such as soybean, corn, canola, and sunflower, during their shelf-life; and reduce the need to use imported and hydrogenated oils for higher shelf stability.
For Objective 1B, ARS researchers in Peoria, IL also studied the effect of natural combinations of antioxidants on the shelf-life and the preservation of beta-carotene and tocopherols (vitamin E) in fried sweet potato chips. These antioxidants were incorporated into the chips through the frying process, then the fried sweet potato chips were studied for shelf-stability improvements by measuring tocopherol and carotenoid loss and the production of off- flavor related volatile compounds. The researchers discovered a combination of natural antioxidants that provided optimal shelf-life and protection of beta-carotene in comparison to a synthetic antioxidant and effectively doubled the shelf-life at 55 °C compared to the control with no added antioxidant.
The goal of Objective 2 was to develop oleogel applications to reduce saturated fats in foods. Oleogels are fat substitutes made by adding a food-grade gelling agent to a liquid vegetable oil at low concentrations to produce a semi-solid that has similar properties to standard fat, such as palm oil or butter, but without the high level of unhealthy saturated fats. Over the five-year period, ARS researchers in Peoria, IL developed a better understanding of how the physical properties of natural wax-based oleogels are affected by the chemistry of the gelling agents and the properties of the oil used. Information about how key properties such as melting point and firmness can be controlled was developed and disseminated through this research. The researchers also applied and tested the resulting oleogels in products such as margarines, confectionary creams, and baked goods. This technology benefits United States soybean and other farmers that produce plant-based oils, food processors that sell and use these oils in food product, while U.S. consumers benefit from healthier oils with lower saturated fats and fewer added synthetic antioxidants.
A key finding was that oleogels made from mixtures of candelilla wax and beeswax had lower melting points and higher firmness than oleogels made with just one wax. Since waxes have higher melting points than most natural fats, lower melting points make the oleogels more like the fats they are replacing, and higher firmness means less wax needs to be used to achieve products with similar texture to hydrogenated oils, palm oil, or butter. Margarines were made with the new oleogels to demonstrate their compatibility with food ingredients and a variety of healthy oils, including olive oil and hempseed oil. This dual combination was later improved with a small amount of sunflower wax, which further increased the firmness.
The ARS researchers in Peoria, IL also developed beeswax, candelilla wax, rice bran wax, and sunflower wax as natural stabilizers to replace hydrogenated oils or palm oil in peanut butter. The excess oil in natural peanut butter (and other natural nut and seed butters) separates during storage causing leakage, shortened shelf-life, and hardening of the solids, and is a common problem for natural nut and seed butters without stabilizers. The ARS researchers used a panel of trained sensory testers to determine which waxes and amounts resulted in a product closest to commercially stabilized peanut butter texture and flavor.
Since the new oleogel technology uses healthier, but less oxidatively stable oils as a substitute for more stable, but less healthy saturated fats, the stability of the oleogel fat substitutes needs to be understood and controlled. Another key result of the research from ARS research in Peoria, IL, was that the oleogel fat substitutes were more oxidatively stable than the free oil used to make the oleogel. Additional studies have confirmed that oleogels made with soybean oil, olive oil, and flaxseed oil were more oxidatively stable than the free oil and have all had similar stability to oil from a traditional margarine with higher saturated fat content.
Along with the focus on wax-based oleogels, the ARS researchers in Peoria, IL collaborated with ARS researchers in Wyndmoor, PA, to evaluate the oleogel properties of novel fatty alcohols derived from sophorolipids.
Sophorolipids are novel lipids that have a sugar portion attached to a long-chain alcohol, isolated from special yeast cultures. The ARS researchers found the oleogel properties were influenced by the structure of the fatty alcohol group. These novel lipids were shown to have potential as oleogels for cosmetic, industrial, and food applications.
The ARS researchers in Peoria, IL are also conducting related research under a CRADA with a large consumer packaged goods company to evaluate whether oleogels can be used as fat replacements with comparable texture, lower saturated fat, equal or higher oxidative stability, and consumer acceptability like the current fat ingredients used in the products.
To improve commercial value and sustainable food production through recovery of healthful, bioactive ingredients from food processing by-products or waste for Objective 3, the researchers derived new antioxidants and oleogelators from low-value waste products such as spent coffee grounds, osage orange, corn wet fiber, and sunflower oil and rice bran oil processing waste streams. ARS researchers in Peoria, IL, also evaluated silflower seed oil composition as a potential new drought-resistant perennial oilseed and potential source of squalene, a high-value bioactive lipid, which is currently sourced from endangered sharks.
In collaboration with a small business, ARS researchers in Peoria, IL also evaluated the frying stability and performance of a novel new oil, to help facilitate its commercialization. The oil is a co-product of another high-value oil, thus improving sustainability and reducing waste.
The ARS researchers in Peoria, IL are also assisting American olive oil producers in two multi-year olive oil storage studies to evaluate how oil chemical changes over time relate to changes in taste and aroma. This research helps producers predict olive oil shelf-life and boost exports.
Accomplishments
1. Improving fat substitutes to reduce saturated fats with soybean and other healthy plant-based oils. Current dietary recommendations to help prevent heart disease are to reduce saturated fats in the diet and replace them with vegetable oils that are higher in healthy monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids.
However, replacing fats with oil is difficult to achieve in some food products because oil is not solid at room or refrigerated temperatures, and because oils degrade faster when exposed to air, heat, and light during cooking, shipping, and storage. ARS researchers in Peoria, Illinois, developed oleogel-based fat substitutes from liquid soybean oil, candelilla wax and beeswax. They used these fat substitutes to make margarines and studied the stability of the margarine over time. They found that the oleogel formulation protected the soybean oil from degradation, and the margarines made with the fat substitutes were as shelf-stable as commercial margarines. Therefore, these oleogel systems can be used as healthy fat substitutes, incorporating soybean or any other healthy oils into margarines and other similar fat-based foods while protecting against degradation. This technology benefits United States farmers who grow canola, corn, cottonseed, olive oil, peanut, soybean, sunflower, canola, and other plant-based oils. It is also advantageous for food processors that sell and use these oils in food products. U.S. consumers will benefit from foods made with healthier oils and lower saturated fats.
2. Improved hemp seed oil quality and stability. The global market for hemp seed oil for food and industrial applications is currently valued at $147.9 million and is projected to expand to $855 million by 2035. Hemp seed oil is rich in two essential polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), linoleic and linolenic, which contribute to brain, cardiovascular, and inflammatory health. However, PUFAs are also susceptible to degradation from heat, light, and air during storage, processing, and transportation. The quality and stability of hemp seed oil is also affected by extraction and post-extraction processing methods. Most industrial hemp seed oil is currently extracted by cold-pressing methods and is unrefined. ARS researchers in Peoria, IL, developed methods to improve hemp seed oil stability by encapsulating hemp seed oil within tiny particles of corn protein, which protects the oil from degradation by reducing contact with air. In addition, ARS researchers in Peoria, IL collaborated with university researchers in North Dakota to develop new extraction and refining processes to improve the quality and stability of hemp seed oil. Expanding the demand for hemp seed oil will increase the acreage for industrial hemp grain production, which will in turn contribute to increased profits for American farmers and producers and enhance rural economies.
Review Publications
Acharya, T., Jeffries, K.A., Bowman, K.D., Moser, B.R., Moser, J.K., Dorado, C. 2025. Investigation of the phytochemical composition of the seeds from four Huanglongbing (HLB) tolerant citrus genotypes and their potential as a biodiesel feedstock. Food Chemistry Advances. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12649-025-03049-x.
Wilson, P.C., Monono, E., Sarker, N.C., Clementson, C.L., Evangelista, R., Winkler-Moser, J.K. 2025. Assessing the refinement conditions for mechanical and solvent extracted hempseed oil. Journal of the ASABE. https://doi.org/10.13031/ja.16141.
Kim, S., Hwang, H. 2024. Understanding oxidation of Hemp seed oil and improving its stability by encapsulation into protein microcapsules. Journal of Food Science. https://doi.org/10.1111/1750-3841.17314.
Hwang, H., Kim, S., Moser, J.K., Liu, S.X. 2024. Effects of unsaturation and other properties of vegetable oils on the properties of rice bran wax oleogels. Journal of Food Science. https://doi.org/10.1111/1750-3841.17613.
Hwang, H., Kim, S. 2025. Oxidative and physical stability of vegetable oil oleogels with a binary mixture of beeswax and candelilla wax. Journal of the American Oil Chemists' Society. https://doi.org/10.1002/aocs.12965.
Thelen, M.M., Flores, S.A., Kelley, J.A., Swank, R.R., Moser, J.K., Fhaner, M.J. 2025. Toward rapid analysis of unsaturated fatty acid oxidation in edible oils via square-wave voltammetry. Journal of the American Oil Chemists' Society. https://doi.org/10.1002/aocs.12973.
Winfield, D.D., Evangelista, R.L., Moser, B.R., Hay, W.T., Winkler-Moser, J.K., Bantchev, G.B., Cermak, S.C. 2025. Physicochemical characterization of Orychophragmus violaceous seeds and oil, a potential source of dihydroxy-fatty acids. Industrial Crops and Products. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indcrop.2025.121530.