The Quantification of Fatty Acids, Color, and Textural Properties of Locally Produced Bakery Margarine

Sergiu Pădureţ

doi:10.3390/app12031731

Abstract

This study focused on the analysis of bakery margarine samples divided into three groups according to physical-chemical analyses of their fat and water content. A Gas Chromatograph-Mass Spectrometer (GC-MS) was used for the evaluation of fatty acids, and from 37 fatty acids studied, only 18 were quantified. The highest concentration was occupied by the long-chain saturated fatty acids category (C14:0–C20:0), ranging between 85.61 μg/mg and 127.30 μg/mg. The dominant fatty acid was palmitic acid for all margarine samples. The texture parameters (hardness, mechanical work of plastic deformation, and fracturability) analyzed in this study with three different penetrometers and a puncture test showed that bakery margarine is a hard plastic material with a pronounced fracturability. The margarine’s fracturability varied from 0.35 N to 8.23 N. The highest values were measured using the 10 mm diameter spherical penetrometer. Of the outside and inside evaluated color parameters, only the b* color parameter indicated an influence on the principal component analysis samples’ projections; its values are also positively correlated with polyunsaturated fatty acids (PN).

Highlights

Food emulsion represents a mixture of two non-miscible phases, with one of the phases being dispersed as small spherical drops in the other one [1].In food technologies, emulsions take place partially or totally in the structures of various natural and processed food products
The purpose of this study was to investigate the chemical composition and the fatty acid concentration of locally produced margarine used by bakery manufacturers in close correlation with textural properties like hardness, fracturability, and plasticity measured with different penetrometers; color parameters were evaluated
The M1 margarine samples presented a lower amount of fat, while the moisture content had high values

Summary

Introduction

Food emulsion represents a mixture of two non-miscible phases, with one of the phases being dispersed as small spherical drops in the other one [1]. Emulsions take place partially or totally in the structures of various natural (milk, cream, butter) and processed (ice cream, mayonnaise, margarine, cake batters) food products. Margarine was produced for the first time in 1869 by Hippolyte Mège Mouriès as a spreadable butter substitute and is a much cheaper water-in-oil (W/O) emulsion than butter. The aqueous phase contains preservatives and salt, while the fatty phase represents a mixture of liquid oil and crystalline fat that confers texture and consistency to the margarine [3,4]. The solid or semisolid structure of margarine is attained by the fat crystal aggregate matrix, in which small drops of water are entrapped

Objectives

Methods

Results