Novel production routes for the fabrication of tailor-made, crystalline, self-structuring oleogels for functional food and pharmaceutical applications

Introduction

One out of five deaths in the EU in 2017 were linked to unhealthy diets, and it is estimated that 53% of the EU population is overweight or obese, creating an unsustainable burden on national sanitary systems. Overconsumption of fats, particularly saturated ones, is one of the main causes of obesity; hence promoting diets that are lower in fats is essential.

Reformulation Strategy

One strategy could be the reformulation of fatty foods with a lower amount of both saturated and total fats. However, this is challenging as fats provide characteristic functional properties that are hard to replicate with different ingredients.

Oleogels as a Solution

The use of oleogels to replace pure fats is a valuable option to solve this difficult task. Oleogels are materials with a reduced content of saturated fatty acids, achieved via the structuring of a liquid oil with a gelator agent.

Benefits of Oleogels

• They can be further processed to obtain more complex food ingredients with reduced calories.
• They possess interesting organoleptic properties (oleocolloids).

Limitations of Oleogels

The application of oleogels is still limited due to several regulatory, technological, and environmental limitations.

Project Overview

Building on the knowledge gained from the ERC StG grant CryForm, NewOilFactory aims at overcoming these limitations by developing novel manufacturing processes for the production of crystalline oleogels made from sustainable liquid oils, without using hydrogenated fatty acids or expensive gelling agents, and following the mild-processing paradigm.

Project Goals

As part of the project:

1. These processes will be tested at laboratory scale.
2. They will be optimized using engineering simulation tools.
3. Validation will be conducted in terms of scale-up feasibility, as well as economic and environmental sustainability.

Market Evaluation

In parallel, an evaluation of their market potential and a competitive analysis will be performed.

Knowledge Transfer Strategy

A knowledge transfer strategy including:

• Patenting
• Licensing
• The creation of a consultancy start-up for further research and co-development with industrial partners will also be established.