Stabilization of additive-free peanut butter

花生酱在加拿大是一项价值数百万美元的生意，78%的加拿大家庭每周都会消费花生酱。尽管光滑而厚实的花生酱在市场上占据主导地位，但人们对所谓的纯天然花生酱的需求也在不断增加，这种花生酱只由磨碎的花生组成。不幸的是，由于没有添加剂来弥补这一被许多人认为不舒服的缺陷，这种花生酱受到了油分离的影响。加工者通常会添加棕榈油或完全氢化植物油等热带油，以防止油分离。虽然提供了稳定的花生酱，但这种方法越来越不受欢迎，因为数十年的研究建议减少饱和脂肪的摄入量。顾客也越来越多地意识到他们消费的食物的质量。当与食品包装上的营养标签相结合时，就会推动加工商消除所有消费者不认识或不想要的成分。与卡夫亨氏加拿大公司一起，这项联盟赠款申请旨在了解天然花生油分离的潜在机制，并开发可扩展的策略，以防止它容易转移到合作伙伴身上。建议的方法是基于调整花生本身的属性，而不是包括不利于标签的成分。这项研究项目的好处包括：新的科学知识(而不是轶事和经验主义)来控制“全天然”花生酱的质地/保质期，与工业相关的特殊学生培训机会，以及解决方案，这些解决方案符合加拿大消费者对基于食品营养事实小组做出健康选择的日益重视，这推动了食品行业不断改进，以减少加工食品中的添加剂。

Peanut butter represents a multimillion-dollar business in Canada, with 78% of Canadian households consuming it weekly. Though smooth and chunky peanut butter dominate the market, there is increasing demand for the so-called 'all-natural' variety that consists only of ground peanuts. Unfortunately, this peanut butter suffers from oil separation given the absence of additives to counter this defect that is considered visually unpleasant by many. Processors commonly add tropical oils such as palm or fully hydrogenated vegetable oil to prevent oil separation. Though delivering a stable peanut butter, such an approach is more and more frowned upon as decades of research have recommended lowering intake of saturated fats. Customers are also increasingly aware of the quality of the food they consume. When compounded with nutrition labelling on food packaging, there is a push for processors to eliminate all ingredients that consumers do not recognize or desire. In conjunction with Kraft Heinz Canada, this Alliance grant application aims to understand the underlying mechanisms of natural peanut butter oil separation, and to develop scalable strategies to prevent it that can be readily transferred to the partner. The proposed approaches are based on adjusting the properties of the peanuts themselves, rather than including ingredients that are not label-friendly.The benefits of this research project include: new scientific knowledge (rather than anecdote and empiricism) to control the texture/shelf life of 'all-natural' peanut butter, exceptional industrially-relevant student training opportunities, and solutions that are aligned with the growing importance placed by the Canadian consumer on making healthy choices based on the Nutrition Facts panel on food products, which is driving continued improvements by the food industry to reduce additives in processed foods.