Physical properties of shortenings with low‐trans fatty acids as affected by emulsifiers and storage conditions

The quality of shortenings, such as solid fat content (SFC) and texture, strongly depends on temperature fluctuations during storage and handling. The quality of a shortening might be affected not only by temperature fluctuations but also by its chemical composition and the presence of emulsifiers. The objective of this work was to investigate the effect of emulsifier addition and storage conditions on the texture, thermal behavior and SFC of low‐trans shortenings formulated with palm oil, palm kernel oil, and vegetable oils such as sunflower and soybean oils. Several conclusions can be drawn from this study: (a) The crystallization behavior of fat blends strongly depends on the type of emulsifier used and the chemical composition of the sample; (b) the addition of emulsifiers affects not only the type of crystals formed (fractionation) but also the amount of crystals obtained (enthalpy, SFC), inducing or delaying the crystallization process; (c) emulsifiers affect the texture of the crystalline structure formed by making it softer; (d) the storage conditions affect both the texture and the SFC of the materials. This study shows that samples that are highly super‐cooled during storage become harder while samples that are less super‐cooled become softer with storage conditions.