2024 Technical Program
Edible Applications Technology
Yasamin Soleimanian Boroujeni (she/her/hers)
Dr.
Guelph University
Guelph, Ontario, Canada
Jarvis Stobbs
Plant Imaging Lead – Associate Scientist
Canadian Light Source Synchrotron, Canada
Alejandro G. Marangoni, PhD (he/him/his)
O.C., F.R.S.C. Professor and Tier I Canada Research Chair
University of Guelph
Guelph, ON, Canada
In meat, fat is part of a fatty tissue in which the fat is embedded in fat cells surrounded by an extracellular protein matrix, imparting a specific stiffness and functionality to the tissue.
To replicate adipose fat, enzymatic glycerolysis was employed to convert liquid oils into solid fats. This process involves transforming native triacylglycerols into partial glycerides with higher melting and crystallization temperatures. Various oils, including shea olein, palm olein, tigernut, rice bran, peanut, and cottonseed oil, were structured through enzymatic reactions at 65 °C, using an oil:glycerol molar ratio of 1:1 in a lab-scale reactor. Although we successfully replicated the solid fat content melting and hardness of beef and pork fat, achieving similar results with lamb fat posed a challenge. The glycerolysis products (GPs) were then structured into oleogels using 5% ethylcellulose (EC) to closely replicate the structural and mechanical attributes of whole adipose tissue, rather than fat.
The combination of glycerolysis plus EC oleogelation improved the hardness and thermal resistance behavior of oleogels compared to their respective GPs. Particularly promising results were obtained for EC oleogels of shea olein and palm olein GPs. However too much thermal softening was still evident in the EC-GP oleogels relative to adipose tissue.
To address insufficient resistance to thermal softening, we explored the use of cellulosic scaffolds filled with oil as an innovative and alternative approach to replicate adipose tissue properties. Many plants have polysaccharides-based tubular structures, which maintain their integrity after drying and can serve as a scaffold for incorporating fat, resembling native adipose tissue. Various plant materials underwent freeze-drying and were subsequently filled with both oils, their GPs and the EC-GP oleogels. Some of these oil-infused materials displayed high oil binding capacity ( >95%), and closely emulated the temperature-dependent behavior and mechanical characteristics of adipose tissue from pork and beef.