Ingredient suppliers, who also saw the writing on the wall, started developing pho-free fat options early. Today, bakers can find a wide variety of solutions and systems to replicate the functionality of these oils in any bakery application.
For example, soon after the announcement of the GRAS removal from phos, the US Pharmacopeial Convention (USP) proposed a monograph that would define fully hydrogenated oils and fats and differentiate them from their partially hydrogenated counterparts.
“This monograph is particularly useful to manufacturers, regulators and other parties when formulating and reformulating their products because it is the first public standard to define exactly what fully hydrogenated oils are and to provide a test and specification designed to differentiate them from phos,” said Kristie Laurvick, Ph.D., senior scientific liaison for food ingredients at the USP, in a statement at the time of the proposal. “With the F.D.A.’s recently finalized determination that phos are not GRAS, it is important to provide manufacturers and food processors with tools to differentiate fully hydrogenated oils from phos, allowing manufacturers to test their materials to rule out food fraud and to ensure the safety of their products.”
The USP is a scientific nonprofit organization that sets standards for the identity, strength, quality and purity of food ingredients, medicines and dietary supplements. This monograph was added to the Food Chemical Codex, Tenth Edition, which lays out these standards. With this distinction, fully hydrogenated oils, which don’t have any trans fat, have become one part of a larger formulating toolbox for removing phos, alongside intersterification and other vegetable oils.
The movement away from trans fats and phos isn’t slowing down either. As the United States wraps up its removal of phos from its manufactured food supply, Canada is turning its eye to these ingredients. Health Canada sought comments earlier this year on a proposal to ban phos from food.
“Through the Healthy Eating Strategy, our government is working to make the healthier choice the easier choice,” said Minister of Health Jane Philpott at the time of the proposal. “By prohibiting partially hydrogenated oils, we are removing the largest source of industrial trans fats from Canada’s food supply and helping reduce the risk of heart disease.”
In the United States, when it comes to the future of fats, Ms. Culhane believes there is a lot of confusion that needs to be cleared up. For example, bakers will remember that in the late 1980s and 1990s, animal-sourced fats were removed because of concerns about saturated fat and replaced with vegetable-sourced phos. Now those are being removed for concerns over trans fats, leaving some shaking their heads.
“I believe we need to give the industry a comprehensive study of all the different fats used in food processing, rather than the piecemeal research we have,” she said.
With that information, bakers and other food manufacturers would be able to move forward in confidence of the healthiness of their ingredients. Until then the industry will stay ahead of the game, pursuing ingredients that provide function, taste and peace of mind.
