Improving the nutrient profiles of foods: Challenges and Solutions Sarah Chapman – Campden BRI

1. Improving the nutrient profiles of foods: Challenges and Solutions Sarah Chapman – Campden BRI

2. Why improve the nutrient profile of products? • Reducing Sugar • Reducing Fat (saturated and total) • Reducing Salt • Conclusions

3. Why improve products nutrient profiles? • Growing obesity crisis and increasing health service cost • On going government pressure to reduce energy density, saturated fat and salt • New labelling regulations requiring nutritional information on all foods • Likely introduction of nutrient profile compliance in order to make a nutrient or health claim

4. What are nutrient profiles? • The 2006 Regulation on nutrition and health claims – outlines criteria for making a nutrition or a health claim • To bear this claim the product will need to have appropriate nutrient profile • Nutrient profiles have not yet been agreed • They are likely to be based on maximum levels of sugar, saturated fat and salt • They will be food category specific

5. Sugar • Sugars– term for nutritive sweeteners – 4kcal/g • Includes fructose, glucose, liquid sweeteners such as honey and agave syrup. • Sucrose – gold standard for sweetness • Provides a clean sweet taste • Contributes to viscosity and mouth feel • Is caramelised by heat • Has good solubility • Reduces Water Activity and can extend shelf life

6. Replacing/reducing sugar • Change of sweetness profile • Lingering sweetness • Detection of undesirable flavours • Changes in flavour and aroma • Decrease in viscosity or difference in mouth feel/texture – hardness, stickiness, melting characteristics • Less browning during baking • Reduction in shelf life in some applications

7. Approaches to reducing sugar • Artificial high potency sweeteners – aspartame, sucralose, acesulfame K, saccharin • Natural high potency sweeteners – thaumatin and steviol glycosides • Bulk low calorie sweeteners – sugar alcohols/polyols • Bulking agents/fibres – inulin, fructo-oligosaccharides, polydextrose and dextrins • Addition of hydrocolloids or starches to improve mouth feel

8. New Approaches to reducing sugar • Sweet taste modulators and sweet aromas – enhancing sweetness • Senomyx and flavour houses • Multiple emulsion technology • Water/oil/water emulsions • Potential to reduce sugar but have processing stability issues

9. New Approaches to reducing sugar • Pulsation induced taste enhancement • Perceived sweetness intensity increased with the size of contrast in sucrose concentration • (Mosca AC, van de Velde F, Bult JHF, van Boekel MAJS, Stieger M. Enhancement of sweetness intensity in gels by inhomogeneous distribution of sucrose. Food Quality and Preference 2010;21:837-842.) • New natural intense sweeteners • Lo han guo (monk fruit) – has GRAS approval in US • Brazzein and Monatin - no safety or regulatory approvals

10. Benefits of fat in foods • Function will vary in different applications • Mouth-feel and texture • Carry, enhance and release flavours • Colour – lipid soluble pigments • Solidity (saturated) • Reduced oxidation (saturated) • Emulsion stability and aeration

11. Problems with reducing fat • Reduced consumer acceptability (due to preference for fat associated aromas, flavours and textures) • Considerable reformulation to achieve acceptable sensory properties and shelf life • Potential cost increases • Changed heating patterns

12. Approaches to removing fat • Remove/Reduce • Leaner meat cuts • Reduced fat ingredients • Reduce oil uptake during frying • Replace • Water/air • Fat replacers • Fibres • Replacement often requires several ingredients

13. Fat Reduction – ingredient approaches • Protein based fat mimics – based on whey, soy, egg – e.g. Simplesse™ • Carbohydrate fat mimics – based on starch or modified starch e.g. N-Dulge™FR • Fibre based fat mimics – dextrins, gums, inulin, polydextrose • Fat-based substitutes - less than 9kcal/g act to reduce the absorption of fat • Salatrim, Capreinin, and sucrose polyesters

14. Fat Reduction – processing technologies • Cryogenic crystallisation – small fat crystals • Removal of fat from ingredients – Solvent extraction (cocoa), Super critical fluid extraction (cheese) • Emulsions • Water in oil in water (WOW) • Water in oil emulsions – work at Campden BRI on alginate water gel and sunflower oil emulsion

15. Reduced both total and saturated fat

16. Reducing fat uptake during frying • Pre-treating products before frying – for example drying, sweet treatment, warm oil blanching • Coating products with barrier films • reduce fat uptake moisture loss – hydrocolloid gums and protein coatings • Modified Frying • Vacuum frying • Vacuum draining after frying

17. Salt Reduction

18. Current approaches for salt reduction (taste) • Reduction by Stealth • gradual reduction used by many food manufacturers • Salt Substitutes – KCl based • Salt Enhancers – yeast extracts, flavours, seaweed based ingredients • Using salty aromas to enhance salt perception • Changing the structure of the salt crystal – Soda-lo™ • Pulsed delivery of salt can enhance perception

19. Conclusions • Significant reduction of sugar, fat and salt is challenging • More difficult where 2 or more of these need replacing • Growing number of both ingredient and processing options • Some approaches still at lab scale • Approaches must be application specific • A tool box approach is recommended

20. Brainstorming Exercise • Aim 1: To capture your current challenges of reducing sugar, fat or salt • Aim 2: To identify potential reduction solutions From results to identify areas where pre-competitive research could be beneficial Scope up possible project

21. Thank You For more information please contact: Email: sarah.chapman@foodhealthinnovation.com Phone: 01386 842212 Web: www.foodhealthinnovation.com