Baking Management: What options does the baking industry have, given the recent push away from trans fats and consumer concerns about saturated fats?

Dr. Gerald McNeill A stable, semi-solid fat is needed to create the functionality, taste and long shelf life that is necessary for most baked products.

Traditionally, animal fats provided the desired texture and flavor that characterized a wide range of products. But concern about possible negative health effects caused by saturated fats resulted in widespread use of hydrogenation, a process that converts unstable, non-functional liquid oils into a semi-solid. Unfortunately at that time we knew almost nothing about the health effects of trans fat, the solid component of hydrogenated oils. It turns out that trans is in fact much worse for your arteries than saturated fat — perhaps as much as 7 times worse. Ironically, substitution of trans fat with saturates is a healthy option!

Some have suggested that substitution with unsaturated fats is even healthier. While this may be correct, liquid oils are not functional in most bakery applications. And the health benefit of unsaturated fat compared to saturates is not as great as we once thought. Saturated fat has recently been found to raise ‘good’ cholesterol as well as ‘bad’ cholesterol.

BM: How has recent attention toward trans fat in media and public policy circles affected your customers? The industry?

Dr. GM: The discovery that trans fat is significantly less healthy than saturated fat has caused a major upheaval in the bakery industry. In the retail sector the compulsory labeling of trans fat content on the nutrition panel of food packages has encouraged many manufacturers to completely eliminate trans fat from their products. In some cases, products with specific health claims may have contained trans fat, as the content of trans fat had not been taken into account by the FDA when the original claims were made.

Most foodservice operations did not eliminate trans fat at that time because it was difficult to know the trans fat content in the foods served at restaurants. In a limited number of cases, restaurants voluntarily displayed nutritional information and committed to eliminating trans fat. Realizing that voluntary elimination of trans fat was ineffective, health officials began banning the use of trans fats in restaurants, culminating in a ban by the state of California. The foodservice industry is now undergoing the same upheaval experienced by retail manufacturers in 2005.

BM: Based on your conversations with customers, scientists and others, what is the biggest challenge facing the baking industry today? How is Loders Croklaan responding to that challenge?

Dr. GM: In today's economic environment, cost control is one of the main drivers for the baking industry. Consumers still demand healthy choices and nutrition is a key driver for the industry. As a major supplier of edible fats and oils, Loders Croklaan is well positioned to supply the baking industry with low cost healthy solutions.

Loders' parent company is one of the largest producers of palm oil in Malaysia, making us a fully-integrated supplier of commodity palm oil. Using a physical process called fractionation, Loders delivers a highly diversified portfolio of products suitable for almost every kind of bakery application. This means that trans fat can be eliminated using the SansTrans line of palm-based products without increasing the cost in most cases.

Palm is sometimes called a “saturated fat” implying that it is somehow less healthy. In fact it is a natural balance of unsaturated and saturated fat, containing an equal amount of each. For every ounce of saturated fat added to the mixing bowl, an ounce of unsaturated fat also is added.

In fact saturated fat is not as unhealthy as once believed. While saturates are known to increase LDL or ‘bad’ cholesterol, recent science has discovered that it also increases HDL or ‘good’ cholesterol. The beneficial effect of the HDL cholesterol partly neutralizes the LDL cholesterol. The net effect — saturated fat doesn't really do anything. Recognizing that good news about saturated fat will take time to filter to consumers, Loders has developed a range of reduced saturated fat shortenings with the same performance as regular palm oil.

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For more information, contact American Palm Oil Council:

Mohd Salleh Kassim, Executive Director
kassim@americanpalmoil.com

American Palm Oil Council
www.americanpalmoil.com