A new state-of-the-art culinary center is being constructed by Bunge North America (booth 2420), according to Dilip K. Nakhasi, the company’s Director of Innovation. The facility, which is anticipated to be ready for unveiling later this year, will be added to Bunge’s Innovations Center for Edible Oils and Carbohydrates in Bradley, Ill.
This center, opened in October 2010, combines the company’s food ingredient innovation and pilot plant facilities into one location. The primary focus of the center is on providing applications support for existing products and customers, with the staff working to develop innovative solutions to meet the customer’s needs for next-generation shortenings and oils. The center includes a scaled-down version of an actual edible oil plant capable of creating shortenings, oils, and other products used by food manufacturers, bakeries, and restaurants. The center also has an extrusion pilot plant to test snack food and cereal applications made from milled grain products.
And now with the addition of the culinary center, the picture will be completed with chefs preparing a variety of dishes made with ingredient innovations available from Bunge.
In addition to the culinary center, Nakhasi discussed the other latest advancements from the company. For example, “simplified solutions,”—
the theme of the company’s booth—are featured in the form of hybrid shortening options that balance nutritional and functional ingredient performance needs. These next-generation solutions demonstrate the innovative directions that blends of fats and oils are taking and can be targeted for a number of application categories.
Nakhasi discussed the further advancements of the company’s UltraBlends line of bakery shortenings and oils. These products, which use an enzymatic interesterification process to rearrange fatty acids to provide structure and functionality at room temperature, are designed to eliminate trans fats and optimize saturated fats while delivering a wider plasticity range. Latest additions to the line are All-Purpose Bakery Shortening (Designer Solution 172) and Emulsified Bakery Shortening (Designer Solution 358.) These two products use what is described as a “saturate sparing” technology, an approach that utilizes cellulose fibers and triglyceride mismatch technology to develop functional plastic shortenings with reduced levels of saturated fatty acids.
“Bunge’s innovative approach of utilizing proprietary non-lipid ingredients and blending and crystallization processes (triglyceride mismatch) provides the capability of reducing saturated fatty levels to greater than 40% in all-purpose and emulsified shortening systems,” said Nakhasi. This technology is based on a special hard stock blend, which when combined with a fiber addition, enables the shortening system to trap and bind large amounts of free oil, while contributing structure.
“This technology successfully provides us the means to achieve functional shortenings with saturates at 17–19%,” explained Nakhasi. “Nutritional analysis indicates that the shortenings are virtually trans free with 40% reduced saturated fatty acids when compared to conventional reduced trans shortening.” Both ingredient solutions also increase monounsaturated fat and low linolenic content, further providing a healthier profile that appeals to health-conscious consumers.
Saturate sparing shortening can be used in many all-purpose and emulsified shortening applications, he added. It can be utilized in place of many other all-purpose shortenings to confer the nutritional benefits of reduced saturates without affecting the taste or mouthfeel of the finished product.
In addition to saturate sparing technology, Nakhasi also described the company’s growing interest in powdered nutritional lipids and ease of ingredient handling. Recently, it introduced Delta Dry, a powdered vegetable-based oil that may be used as a nutritional lipid component in healthy beverages and other mixes. Nakhasi noted that the ingredient consists of a core of Delta SL oil multilayered with soy or whey protein and hydrocolloids such as starch or gum arabic. (A randomized triacylglycerol blend of high-oleic canola oil and medium-chain triglycerides with added phytosterol esters, Delta SL is metabolized by the body more rapidly than traditional vegetable oils and inhibits the body’s ability to absorb cholesterol. These attributes combine to present a vegetable oil that helps maintain desired weight and can reduce low density lipoprotein cholesterol when used as a replacement for traditional vegetable oils. Delta Dry P/RB, a structured lipid oil made from medium-chain triglycerides and canola oil but without phytosterol esters may also be used as a core for the powdered ingredient.)
A multilayered encapsulate, Delta Dry offers protein enhancement for healthy lipids as well as an ideal form for incorporation into powdered-based systems or other applications where liquid fats are not desirable, noted Nakhasi. The powdered nutritional lipid has 18 g of polyunsaturated fat per 100 g. Available as a free-flowing powder, it offers easy dispensability and zero grams of trans fat per serving.
Attendees can experience these solutions in a number of prototypes highlighted at the booth. Representatives are on hand to discuss the functionality and health benefits that these solutions can provide.
