Abstract
Food manufactures are looking to extend the variety of low-fat spreads containing less than 40%fats. Manufacturing low-fat spreads requires a relatively large amount of added emulsifiers and stabilizers to provide the water-in-oil (W/O) emulsion. However, the flavor release and mouth feeling of these low-fat spreads are inadequate because of the stable emulsion state. This study was conducted to establish a method for evaluating the degree of demulsification in the mouth and for providing the technique to produce a stable low-fat spread that can be rapidly demulsified in the mouth. The possible combination of such emulsifiers as monoglyceride (MG), polyglycerol polyricinoleate (PGPR) and organic acid monoglyceride was investigated to evaluate the effect of these emulsifiers on the demulsification of a low-fat spread in the mouth. We measured the electrical conductivity attributable to the salt released from the aqueous phase of various low-fat spread in the mouth. We measured the electrical conductivity attributable to the salt released from the aqueous phase of various low-fat spread which had been stored at 5°C and were then heated to 36°C. It was confirmed that electrical conductivity measurement was useful for evaluating the demulsification of spreads, and that the degree of demulsification could be estimated from the equilibrium value of the electrical conductivitv. The demulsification at 36°C of low-fat spreads containing 20% fat may have resulted from an increase in the hydrophile-lipophile balance (3-6) due to adding organic acid monoglyceride to MG and PGPR. The interaction between PGPR and organic acid monoglyceride seems to have induced demulsification from the experimental results for different concentrations of the emulsifiers. These results suggest that the combination of such emulsifiers as MG, PGPR and organic acid monoglycride would enable 20% low-fat spreads to be manufactured which are stable during the preparation and can be demulsified in the mouth with good flavor-release characteristics.