Stabilization of additive-free peanut butter

在加拿大，花生酱是一项价值数百万美元的生意，78%的加拿大家庭每周都会食用花生酱。虽然光滑厚实的花生酱在市场上占据主导地位，但对所谓的“纯天然”品种的需求却在不断增加，这种品种只含有花生粉。不幸的是，由于缺乏添加剂来弥补这种缺陷，这种花生酱遭受油分离的困扰，许多人认为这是视觉上不愉快的。加工商通常加入热带油，如棕榈油或完全氢化的植物油，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，因为几十年来的研究都建议减少饱和脂肪的摄入。消费者也越来越关注他们所消费食品的质量。当与食品包装上的营养标签相结合时，有一种推动加工商消除消费者不认识或不需要的所有成分。与卡夫亨氏加拿大公司合作，该联盟的资助申请旨在了解天然花生酱油分离的潜在机制，并制定可扩展的策略，以防止这种情况随时转移给合作伙伴。拟议的方法是基于调整花生本身的特性，而不是包括那些标签上不友好的成分。本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，特殊的工业相关学生培训机会，以及与加拿大消费者越来越重视根据食品营养成分小组做出健康选择的解决方案相一致，这推动了食品工业的持续改进，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.