Natural Characteristics Of Fats

2.3 Fats The word fats refer to the lipid food group and it is used to mean both fats and oils. The unseparated fats and oil in foods such as grains, nuts, dairy products, eggs and meats are the example of ‘invisible’ fats that usually more than fifty per cent of our normal fats intake (Ghotra et al, 2002). Fats and oils are calorie-dense food item which give nine calories per gram compared to the carbohydrates and proteins which are four calories per gram respectively. Foods that rich in fats and oils are concentrated sources of calories. There are many types of fats and oils such as lard, butter, margarine, whipped spreads, shortenings, salad oils, cooking sprays (McWilliams, 2009). The natural characteristics of fats vary based on their origins. For example, in milk fat, saturated and seven saturated chain length of fatty acids are range from 4 to 26 carbon atoms with nine different saturated and seven unsaturated fatty acids being noticeable. However, other types of fat will only have three saturated and two unsaturated fatty acids in abundance in their structures (McWilliams, 2009). In bakery productions, fat are functions a shortening power and lubricity, batter aeration, …show more content…
The processes are hydrogenation, interesterification and fractionation. Hydrogenation is a process of addition of hydrogen to a fat to obtain different degrees of hardness. The process is done in the presence of a nickel as a catalyst. The temperature used between 100oC and 200oC and at 15 atmospheres of pressure. The purpose of the hydrogenation is to increase the stability of oil’s solid fat content by reducing the level of unsaturation in oils. Hydrogenation processing conditions can be modified in order to create a range of fats and oils with different characteristics such as melting point of the oils (Henry,2009 ; McWilliams,