Ferré & Consulting Blog (English Version)

The omega-3 ingredients market is set to expand, thanks to the essential fatty acids health-giving properties and new production technologies which allow omega-3 fatty oils to be added to an expanding number of foods and beverages, says the US market research company Packaged Facts.

There is good evidence that omega-3 fatty acids support good cardiovascular, reproductive and immune system health. The report estimates U.S. retail sales of food and beverage products with a ‘high omega-3’ or ‘high DHA’ claim grew 11% and approached $4 billion in 2010.

Packaged Facts predicts the U.S. omega-3 ingredient market will grow 40% between 2010 and 2015 as U.S. retail sales of ‘high omega-3’ or ‘high DHA’ foods and beverages approach $7 billion by the end of 2015.

For many years fish oils and powders containing omega-3 fatty acids were consumed as dietary supplements. With better encapsulation technology companies have began to add fish oils to different types of foods, beginning with spreads and oils and continuing into dairy products, cereals and even fruit-flavoured beverages.

“When the first omega-3-enriched foods entered the market in 2003, some predicted that there would be a flood of products within a couple of years,” said Don Montuori, publisher of Packaged Facts. “But the challenges of finding ways to get the fatty acids into foods and beverages, making the resulting product palatable and achieving a reasonable shelf-life, were more daunting than expected.”

“Now that many of these technology hurdles have been overcome, more categories of products have become viable candidates for fortification with omega fatty acids. Several industry experts we interviewed believe that the biggest trend in the next five to 10 years will be food and beverage companies seeking to fortify their products with omegas.”

Source: Ingredients Network

Ingredients fatty acids, omega 3

Made from canola and sunflower seeds, the oils are said to have a ‘unique’ combination of high oleic and low linolenic fatty acids that delivers the benefits without oil performance or food taste.

Improved health, performance and flavor attributes are claimed for the new Omega-9 Oils Ingredient Solutions from Dow AgroSciences designed for use in baked goods, snacks and packaged foods. Dow’s David Dzisiak, commercial leader oils, said: “Omega-9 Oils have a healthier profile with zero trans fat, the lowest level of saturated fats among cooking oils, and are uniquely high in heart-healthy monounsaturated (omega-9) fat.”

A recent study by the International Food Information Council (IFIC) revealed that more US consumers (69 percent) are concerned by the types of fat they consume than are worried about the amount of fat they consume (67 percent).

Nutrition panels

According to a company statement the oils can “improve nutrition panels by reducing the bad fats and increasing the good fat” to help produce products that have the following nutrition label statements:

• Zero trans fat.
• Low (or significant reduction in) saturated fat.
• High heart-healthy monounsaturated (omega-9).

In addition to cleaner labels through simple ingredient lists, produced without hydrogenation, interesterification or additives, the oils maintain functional product qualities including flavor, texture, mouth-feel and shelf life, said Dzisiak.

Omega 9

“Because omega-3 shortening is naturally stable, it can provide equal or longer shelf life to products containing traditional, high saturated fat shortenings,” added Dzisiak. “This is achieved without the use of antioxidants preserving a cleaner product label that consumers want.”

Applications include spray oils, cooking oils and shortening for baked goods, snacks and packaged foods.

Breads and cakes

Food oil use in the US alone exceeds 22bn pounds per year. About 60 percent of food oil is used in packaged foods with the top four key uses being salad dressings and mayo, margarine, biscuit and crackers and breads and cakes.

About 30 percent of food oil is used in food service, primarily for use in frying foods with the remaining ten percent sold as cooking oil.

Meanwhile, the first US company to use Omega-9 Oils Ingredients Solutions is Weaver Popcorn, Noblesville, Indiana. The company’s new Pop Weaver microwavable popcorn has a more than 50 percent reduction in total fat including 60 percent less saturated fat.

“Other popcorn manufacturers were removing trans fats by using industry standard palm oil or coconut oil, both of which dramatically increase saturated or bad fats,” said Dzisiak. “Our Omega-9 Solutions Team helped Pop Weaver develop a smarter solution – one that maintained their signature taste while improving the health profile of the snack.”

Ingredients fatty acids, omega 9, trans fats

The European Food Safety Authority has issued a positive safety opinion on sucrose esters produced by reacting sucrose and vinyl esters of fatty acids, which could open up new possibilities for improving the solubility of flavourings in drinks.

Sucrose esters of fatty acids are already permitted in the EU, after being assessed in 1992 and assigned the E-number E473. The earlier approval relates to sucrose esters of fatty acids and sucroglycerides from palm oil, lard, and tallow fatty acids.

But Singaporean company Compass Foods applied in 2008 for approval to market sucrose esters from monoesters of lauric acid, mysteristic acid, palmitic acid, and stearic acid. These sucrose esters are produced via a different process, by reacting sucrose and vinyl esters of fatty acids.

This is said to result in very tiny residues of vinyl esters of fatty acid, acetaldehyde, and p-methoxyphenol – but these were not seen to be at a level to raise concern for EFSA’s panel.

EFSA was asked to assess the safety of the sucrose esters produced via this process by the European Commission – as well as whether the go-ahead to use the sucrose esters of fatty acids in water-based beverages would increase total intake levels beyond the current ADI of 40mg/kg. Notably, the sucrose ester of lauric acid was not considered in the evaluation that led to this ADI.

After assessing the evidence, EFSA’s panel concluded that the monosters proposed by Compass Foods would be extensively hydrolysed in the gastrointestinal tract into ocnsituent fatty acids and sucrose before being absorbed.

It found that, as long as the ADI of 40mg/kg is not exceeded, the sucrose esters of fatty acids produced by the new process do not pose a safety issue. However in Ireland, where sucrose esters of fatty acids are used more commonly as a glazing agent for fruits, some consumers could exceed the ADI.

“There is no is no reason to believe that the sucrose monoesters of fatty acids per se produced by the new manufacturing process should in any way have biological or toxicological effects different from those of sucrose monoesters of fatty acids produced by the currently-used manufacturing methods.”

The panel was unconcerned about the lauric acid source, as although there are limited toxicological data on this available, lauric acid is found in quite high levels in a number of foods. In order for the new esters to be permitted, EFSA pointed out that the current specifications would have to be changed to include the sucrose ester of lauric acid.

Moreover, permission would need to be granted for supercritical carbon dioxide to be used as a solvent to make them.

Food Safety EFSA, fatty acids, sucrose esters

All fats are made of various mixtures of saturated and unsaturated (monounsaturated and polyunsaturated) fatty acids. All fatty acids are composed of chains of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms. Fatty acids are named and numbered based on how their carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms are arranged. “Omega-3”, “Omega-6”, and “Omega-9” are actually chains of unsaturated fatty acids categorized based on where the double bond between two carbon atoms occurs. Omega-3, omega-6, and omega-9 have a carbon–carbon double bond in the #3 position, the #6 position, and the #9 position of their carbon chains, respectively.

Omega-3 fatty acids are extremely important to health because they help suppress inflammation, an underlying cause of many diseases. There are a number of omega-3 fatty acids. They can be categorized according to short chain or long chain configurations. One important short chain omega-3 fatty acid is alpha linolenic acid (ALA). It is essential to health; however, our bodies cannot make it, so we must get this fatty acid from our diets. It is a nutrient most Americans do not get enough of as relatively few foods are good sources. Canola and soybean oils are two widely available dietary sources of essential ALA so their inclusion in the daily diet is healthful. Longer chain omega-3’s are found in fatty fish, which also have health benefits.

Omega-6 fatty acids are also essential to health and are nutrients that our bodies cannot make. The most familiar omega-6 fatty acid is called linoleic acid (LA). Many oils contain omega-6 fatty acids, including safflower, sunflower, soybean, corn, cottonseed, and peanut oils so it is much easier to get the amount needed through our daily diet. There has been some debate regarding the importance of a balanced ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids in the diet, but others feel that it is the absolute amounts of each fatty acid in the diet that matters. The current recommendation for omega-6 fatty acid intake is 5-10% of total calories.

Omega-9 fatty acids are found in various vegetable oils and animal fats. Unlike omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, they are not essential, but they too are important to health. Oleic acid is one of the main omega-9 fatty acids, and emerging evidence is showing that it may be important in metabolism and weight regulation. Oleic acid is the main component of olive oil, as well as, some of the new generation, heat stable oils, including high-oleic canola and sunflower oils. Another term for high-oleic oils is Omega-9 oils. Omega-9 oils refer to a category of oils that have over 70% oleic acid and less than 3% linolenic (ALA).

When it comes to frying, the fatty acid composition of the oil determines how well it stands up to the high heat of frying. Oils high in oleic acid are very heat stable. Omega-3 fatty acids are not very heat stable however they impart an important flavor profile to the oil so when there is just enough (above 1% or so), taste perception of the cooked food product is improved. New generation, low linolenic (ALA) soy oils also have enhanced heat stability and improved frying performance.

Ingredients fats, fatty acids, omega 3, omega 6, omega 9, saturated, unsaturated