MODIFICATIONS OF ORGANOGELS FOR USE IN FOOD SYSTEMS

Ethylcellulose has been used to produce oleogels with various vegetable oils. The gels show promise as fat replacers in foods and have already been used in several systems. The ability to modify their texture through compositional modifications should provide a method to tailor their characteristics for a diverse range of food applications. To aid in the selection , we have developed a series of response surfaces including modifying polymer concentration, molecular weight, oil type, and　surfactants employed. Each surface was designed as a function of increasing gelator concentration and increasing concentration of a particular surfactant. Results show that hardness invariably increases according to a power-law function with increasing EC concentration.
Using cryo-scanning electron microscopy and the judicious use of a solvent to remove surface oil, the EC polymer network was examined. The oleogels consist of a polymer network, surrounding oil droplets or pores, ranging from 2-5 μm in diameter. This microstructure could be correlated with the oleogel mechanical properties.  As the level of unsaturation in the oil increases, the mean droplet size was shown to decrease.  While large increases in hardness can also be seen by increasing the EC molecular weight, no significant change in pore size was seen between oleogels made using 10% 45 cP or 100 cP EC.

The ability of these organogels to lower saturated fat content in meat emulsion products. Animal fat was replaced with increasing level of organogels containing EC (8-14%), .with and without sorbitan monostearate (SMS; 1.5% & 3.0%). Mechanical measurements were taken, and a trained sensory analysis panel evaluated the products.  Use of organogel lowered mechanical and sensory panel hardness values when compared to products prepared with unstructured oil as the fat component. Slight variations in yield and colour were observed, and some panelists were able to identify a distinct off-flavour in the frankfurters.