Carole Bingley Technical Specialist – Product and Ingredient Innovation at Reading Scientific Services Ltd (RSSL)

14 | Nutraceuticals Now Spring Issue 2019 | 15

From alternative fats and plant-based proteins to cannabidiol (CBD oil), the food industry is constantly reinventing itself with a stream of ingredient innovations. Getting to grips with changing dynamics is a daily challenge for formulators, but one which can be addressed with the right techni-cal approach. Carole Bingley, Technical Specialist – Product and Ingredient Inno-vation at Reading Scientific Services Ltd (RSSL) explains.

Product reformulation has become a driving force in many manufacturers’ de-velopment strategies. Consumers seeking new taste experiences, adopting flexitar-ian eating habits or choosing sustainable brands are just some of the recent trends influencing new directions. Factor in the added pressure of high-profile health initiatives - such as achieving the 20% sugar content reduction target content set by Public Health England - and it’s not surprising that revamping product portfolios remains firmly on the agenda.

From a technical perspective, however, any change to a product’s formulation can’t be viewed in isolation. Such is the inherently complex nature of product recipes, process-ing and packaging regimes that an adjust-ment in just one ingredient can potentially impact any number of product characteris-tics; from texture and flavour to stability and flow behaviour.

That’s why it is so important to take a ho-listic view; where every aspect of the im-pact of the specified ingredient is analysed and understood in the context of the over-all product concept, so that any neces-sary adjustments measures can be taken to ensure consistently positive product performance.

In the world of health and wellness, redesigning products to align with the lat-est trends is nothing new. But for formu-lators focused on creating the required nutritional profile or integrating the latest fashion-forward ingredient, understand-ing how these changes impact overall product quality is essential.

‘Healthy’ fatsThe replacement of highly saturated fats with mono- and poly-unsaturated alterna-tives has long been supported on health grounds due to their associated benefits with heart and brain functions. In addition, palm oil has come under scrutiny recently due to environmental concerns which has accelerated moves to find sustainable or completely different sources across food applications.

Whatever the rationale for reformulating with lower saturated fats, consideration must be given to two important effects.

Firstly, let’s consider the physical properties

of the food. Fat provides a number of func-tional properties during processing and in the final product, which are depend-ent on the physical properties of the fat. Unsaturated fats, such as rapeseed and sunflower oil, have a lower melting point and are therefore more liquid at room temperature compared to their saturat-ed counterparts. In bakery products for example, this may require changes in the formulation and process to compensate for the inability to cream liquid oils with sugar during cake making.

Other applications may also need attention. Cereal bars, for example, can appear greasy as a result of oil moving within the food ma-trix and migrating to the surface, while the use of a softer fat in the creamer in pow-dered beverages may cause the product to clump and not rehydrate as easily.

Secondly, let’s consider rancidity. Caused by the oxidative deterioration of unsatu-rated fats in foods, this is one of the ma-jor causes of quality deterioration in foods and is marked by unpleasant odours or fla-vours. Highly saturated fats have a greater resistance to oxidation, so replacement with unsaturated oils will reduce this effect and consequently shorten the shelf-life of the product.

These reformulation issues can be ad-dressed using advanced techniques de-signed to evaluate the potential impact on product quality and organoleptic character-istics. A Thermal Desorption Unit (TDU) GC-MS, for example, can be used to measure the individual compounds that are respon-sible for giving the rancid off-notes caused by oxidation of the products. Analysing lipid oxidation markers at concentrations which extend below the perceivable sensory threshold levels for off-odours and off-tastes (in the parts per billion (ppb) to parts per mil-lion (ppm) range), enables the early stages of oxidation to be monitored.

In addition, because the TDU method does not involve sample extraction it can be ap-plied directly to both raw ingredients and fin-ished products. This end-to-end evaluation not only improves consistency of results, but is also much quicker than traditional tech-niques and an ideal way to monitor the oxi-dation of fats within food over time.

Vital vitaminsWhen it comes to reformulating products containing vitamins and minerals, the main problem formulators need to address is sta-bility. Many factors can affect whether vita-mins (and any other active ingredients) can survive in the product up to its proposed use-by date. These include the presence of oxygen, light and other vitamins. Even minor modifications to the formulation can have a major impact.

In practice this means that any changes to

a fortified product - such as the introduc-tion of a new botanical - can cause inter-ference with the vitamins already present. As a result, the original methods designed to validate their presence in the matrix can be rendered ineffective. This clearly has major implications for brands in terms of labelling and on-pack claims substantiation.

Boosting the nutritional content of a pro-tein shake, for example, may mean that one or more vitamins in the formulation can no longer be analysed using the orig-inal extraction method - despite having previously been successful in validating both shelf life and label claims. Similarly, expanding an established beverage range with the introduction of a different flavour can sometimes cause similar interferenc-es. The flavour may degrade over time and the degradants may impact on the original analysis process so that it is not able to accurately quantify vitamins in the new product - even though this aspect of the for-mulation has not been altered.

Changes may also be made to the vitamin format. A move from liquid to encapsulated, for example, may be deemed advantageous in terms of improved solubility or product stability. But again, such steps could impact on the analysis of the vitamin in the product; the method may no longer be fit for pur-pose and result in the need to optimise the extraction procedure of the analytical meth-od in order to support label claims.

Plant powerOne of the hottest food trends of recent years, the plant-based revolution shows no signs of slowing and product developers are naturally keen to capitalise on this growing market. Achieving a formulation with the desired characteristics, however, is often not an easy task and requires a high level of technical expertise due to the inherent prob-lems associated with these ingredients.

Using plant proteins in place of dairy sources, for example, in a bid to appeal to growing vegetarian and flexitarian audiences raises issues of texture and fla-vour. Soya and pea are well-known for their distinctive taste and careful selection of the cleanest tasting protein source together with flavour masking may be required to op-timise acceptability. Some of the newer pro-teins on the market can be even more chal-lenging in this respect and some bring the added issue of a visually unappealing colour.

Gritty sedimentation caused by the lower solubility of these plant protein ingredients may also be an issue, but this can be mini-mised by modifying any hydrocolloids pres-ent to improve suspension and create the desired creamy texture - a measure which is particularly important in beverage applica-tions.

In addition, the lower quality of some plant proteins compared to milk based options - as determined by the PDCAAS method of eval-uation which assesses both the amino acid profile and digestibility - means that different sources may need to be blended together to achieve the required protein profile. For example, in sports nutrition products, this may translate to a formulation containing a careful combination of three different plant proteins; pea protein (high in lysine but low in cysteine and methionine) with rice and

FOCUS ON REFORMULATION

oat proteins (low in lysine but relatively high in cysteine and methionine).

Indeed, this ability to draw on specialist in-gredients expertise is vital when working with different sources and types of plant protein; each of which has individual char-acteristics which must be understood in the context of each application, so that com-pensatory steps can be taken to create a well-balanced product.

With so much attention focused on plant-based ingredients, keeping pace with developments in order to capital-ise on emerging trends requires an agile approach to formulation. New ingredients, come with new challenges which need to be understood. One of the most recent ex-amples is CBD oil. Although its use in food and drinks has not yet secured regulatory approval, this hemp derived extract is already gathering momentum as some manufac-turers seek to make the most of consumer interest by incorporating CBD flavours into beverages.

This is just one emerging trend but it demon-strates the need for product developers to be able to adapt formulations - and under-lines the importance of having access to technical specialists capable of developing analytical methods to target novel ingredi-ents.

Formulating a strategyOf course, reformulating a product can also lead to new challenges in the manufactur-ing process. Understanding how the modi-

fied product is likely to behave under exist-ing processing conditions is a critical part of any development project.

Any problems in terms of texture, taste, ap-pearance or quality, resulting from changes to the formulation, will need to be resolved at key points in the production process. For example, changes may affect:• Flow behaviour: Due to a difference in particle size distribution or moisture absorp-tion. A liquid oil, for example, would reduce viscosity in a cake batter. Solutions may in-clude measuring flow powder behaviour and tailoring the design of common equip-ment such as silos, hoppers, dosers and screw feeders.

• Product caking and re-crystallisation: Potential risks of this unwanted phenom-ena can be identified and prevented us-ing techniques such as Dynamic Vapour Sorption (DVS) which investigates moisture absorbance of powders - and so helps to determine critical processing and relative humidity. Sugar and salts are also important ingredients for regulating free water.

• Shelf-life: The evaluation of water activity on a formulation over time or in conditions that accelerate aging can be used to esti-mate the shelf life of the new formulation. Knowledgeable selection of ingredients can also help to prevent rancidity, such as the use of sugar and hard fat in cereal bars.

Only by building a detailed picture of the many factors involved with the production of a reformulated concept - from manufac-

turing to distribution, storage and use by the consumers - can developers be confident that the repositioned product will deliver on every level. A strategy which requires an extensive range of scientific techniques and expertise in order to ensure an efficient development process...........................................................................

For further details contact customer services on:Tel: +44 (0)118 918 4076 Email: enquiries@rssl.com Web: www.rssl.com

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