America’s love of fats has waxed and waned, and there’s an option for today’s health-conscious consumers that also works great for restaurants and food production. David Tegeder, Senior Marketing Manager for DuPont Pioneer, spoke to Ohio Soybean Council-sponsored Ag Biotech Academy workshop participants about Plenish high oleic oil.
Consumer preferences have changed, moving from butter to lard to margarine to shortening to oils, with price and health concerns driving buying choices. The 2006 FDA labeling rules for trans-fats products caused soybeans to lose market share, as people steered away from partially hydrogenated products. Now high oleic soybean oil’s beneficial qualities are helping regain that market. Scientists use transgenic technology to create high-oleic varieties.
Plenish is a high oleic oil with a variety of applications. Chemical industry uses include lubricants and biofuels. Its high temperature stability and longer shelf life make it useful for the food industry. Using Plenish in food products allows less or no artificial preservatives. Less polymer build-up means less equipment maintenance. Plenish can be blended with olive oil for flavor in cooking with a higher smoke point.
Nestle uses Plenish in their liquid Coffee Mates and Boost. Tegeder explained that this has eliminated a significant amount of trans fat from people’s diets in this country: “It’s the equivalent of 450 semi-trailers of trans fat we are no longer consuming!”
In the food science section of the workshop, participants made soy flour tortillas, then fried them in high oleic and other oils and compared the lipid content.
