Stabilization of additive-free peanut butter

在加拿大，花生酱是一项价值数百万美元的业务，78%的加拿大家庭每周都会食用花生酱。虽然光滑和大块的花生酱主导着市场，但对所谓的“全天然”品种的需求越来越大，这种品种只含有花生粉。不幸的是，这种花生酱由于没有添加剂来对抗这种被许多人认为视觉上不愉快的缺陷而遭受油分离。加工者通常添加热带油，如棕榈油或完全氢化的植物油，以防止油分离。虽然提供稳定的花生酱，但这种方法越来越不受欢迎，因为几十年的研究建议减少饱和脂肪的摄入量。消费者也越来越意识到他们所消费的食品的质量。当与食品包装上的营养标签相结合时，有一种推动力要求加工商消除消费者不认识或不想要的所有成分。与卡夫海因茨加拿大公司合作，该联盟赠款申请旨在了解天然花生酱油分离的基本机制，并制定可扩展的战略，以防止它可以很容易地转移到合作伙伴。建议的方法是基于调整花生本身的特性，而不是包括不适合标签的成分。该研究项目的好处包括：新的科学知识（而不是奇闻轶事和讽刺），以控制质地/保质期的'全天然'花生酱，特殊的工业相关的学生培训机会，和解决方案，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相一致，这推动了食品行业的持续改进，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.