Novozymes Offers Solution to Eliminate Trans Fats in Baked Goods

Novozymes offers as a solution for reducing and eliminating harmful trans fats: a lipase enzyme, Lipozyme TL IM, yielding higher-quality shortenings with no color changes, low diglycerides, and fewer byproducts.

The enzymatic process eliminates the need for chemicals, washing or post-bleaching and it produces no wastewater, according to the company. The continuous process involves fewer steps and reduces energy costs, while using enzymes offers manufacturers a simple, efficient way to cut the trans fats and produce a higher-quality product.

Lowering the risk of heart disease is the goal of a new wave of global regulation that prohibits food manufacturers from adding PHOs, a major source of trans fats, to their products. This puts new focus on enzymatically interesterified oils with no trans fats.

Reducing the trans fats in our food could prevent a half-million deaths from heart disease globally every year, says the World Health Organization. Trans fats are found in ordinary products such as margarine, cakes, icing, fried foods, salad dressings, commercially-prepared popcorn and much more. In many countries, consumers eat high levels of trans fats without being aware of the risk of heart disease.

Regulations to reduce trans fats already exist in many countries. The U.S. FDA now forbids food manufacturers from adding partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs), a major source of trans fats, to their products, effective from mid-June 2018. Similarly, the World Health Organization has launched a program encouraging governments to adopt programs to limit PHOs and reduce trans fats globally. Europe is also considering new limits.

Trans fats are formed when manufacturers use a partial hydrogenation process to give margarines the correct melting properties and shelf-stability. Novozymes explains that they can achieve all these same qualities and avoid trans fats by using a different process, interesterification.