Strouts believes that even manufacturers of these fats still face a learning curve. “The fat chemists have had to alter their thinking for how they construct a fat for a particular purpose,” he says. “We worked with one company in particular, and the chemist basically said he had to rethink the way he was engineering those shortenings. Just building it off of common ground like melting point and solid fat index, the way he would build fats for other ap-plications in the past, just didn’t really hold true when you start dealing with these
trans-fat-free shortenings.”
From the baker’s standpoint, it “still goes back to keeping all the basic fundamental things about bakery production in mind, and keeping those controls,” Strouts says. “Things like time, temperature and sequencing of ingredi-ents remain critical.” In some cases, those parameters are even more critical with trans-fat-free shortenings.
Drop-in solution myths
Scott Erickson, marketing manager, Cargill Specialty Canola Oils, Minneapolis, sees continued work on bakery trans-fat conversion. “Unfortunately, there’s probably not one drop-in solution that works for everybody,” he says.
While customers want an off-the-shelf low-trans solution, Beatriz Bettler, regional sales manager, Cargill Dressings, Sauces and Oils, Minneapolis, says it is important to take the time to look above and beyond. “What we’ve done with our customers is embark on a journey to learn about their capabilities, process, budgets, nutritional goals, etc., to identify what product will work the best for them,” she says. “We allow ourselves the opportunity to consider all our products.”
The solution depends on the product. For example, trans is generally not an issue in bread, notes Lynn Lawrence, manager of technical services, ACH Food Companies, Memphis, TN, because it’s low-fat. Here, liquid, nonhydrogenated oils work well.