Dear Colleagues,

Nowadays, there are increasing demands regarding the quality of fats. Fats obtained directly from plant and animal raw materials do not always meet the expectations of technologists, nutritionists or consumers. For this reason, they are subjected to numerous modifications that make it possible to obtain a product with the desired features and properties and that also meet consumers’ expectations with regard to sensory properties. New fat products are characterized by specific parameters, i.e., adequate plasticity, melting point, composition, oxidative stability, or improved sensory characteristics. Modifications may also contribute to the use of less attractive fats, such as waste fats. Thanks to the use of these types of processes, fats are of a higher quality, have a longer shelf life and often meet the expectations set by consumers.

The most common processes enabling fat modification are: fractionation, blending, hydrogenation interesterification and oleogelation. Nowadays, much interest is placed on the methods that are compatible with sustainable development. One such method is enzymatic interesterification. This method makes it possible to obtain more and more advanced products thanks to the specificity of lipases, which are used as catalysts in the reaction. Oleogelation, on the other hand, is a method which enables the structuring of oil, e.g., vegetable oil, by adding structure-forming substances, thanks to which the new fat changes physical characteristics and can be applied in new ways in industry. Gelation techniques have been used for oil structuring reasons, allowing for the development of diverse oleogel or organogel systems, with a multitude of colloidal architectures (e.g., crystalline networks, self-assembled conformations or polymeric complexes).

Both of these methods provide a new structured fat alternative for the hydrogenation process. Taking into account nutritional properties, the fats obtained by these methods are free of trans isomers.

Prof. Dr. Malgorzata Kowalska
Prof. Dr. Anna Żbikowska
Guest Editors

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• oleogelation
• enzymatic interesterification
• structuring substances
• lipases
• nutritional properties modification of fats