Course:FNH200/Projects/2022/Margarine

File:Becel 2020-12-02.jpg

Margarine

Introduction

Margarine's worldwide consumption and popularity has increased throughout the years. Margarine has been used as an alternative to butter, and while these two products share some similarities and are sometimes used interchangeably when cooking, they have many differences in their historical origin, chemistry, manufacturing process, ingredients, packaging, regulations, and their impact on health.

History

French chemist Mège Mouriès invented margarine in the 1860s as a cheaper alternative to butter by churning a patented product which was a mixture of fractionated beef tallow oleine (having 10% milk), water, and udder tissue as a flavoring agent. This cheaper alternative rapidly overtook the industries and surpassed butter sales in the 1970s. This product shared many similarities to butter such as being hard, spreadable, and having an 80% fat constituent. Thus, for almost a century the major driving force for the production of margarine was cost savings, and there was not much further innovation in the processing of margarine; except for the addition of vitamins, which was introduced in 1927. The addition of vitamins helped the growth of margarine consumption as many suggested before this addition that margarine should not be considered an alternative to butter and should not be ingested by children.

What is Margarine: chemistry, different types

Margarine Nutrition Facts label, including Vitamin A and Vitamin D

Margarine is a solid emulsion of water in fat or oil, meaning that the dispersed phase is water and the continuous phase is solid. It should have an 80% fat constituent, and it contains added vitamins of A and D. The source of the edible oil can be vegetables, animals, or marine creatures but it should not come from milk fat, making it distinct from butter. Margarine has three main polyunsaturated types: all-vegetable margarine, all-vegetable oil margarine, and any edible fat or oil margarine. Margarine is then further classified into two main classes, class A and class B, depending on its spreadability. Class A is regular and with spreadability at 12°C, while class B is soft and spreadable at 4°C.

Ingredients

An example of margarine ingredients from Becel Original (refer to image on the right).

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  Becel Original margarine label with Ingredients List and stating "KEEP REFRIGERATED AND USE CLEAN UTENSILS"
  Canola oil (74%)

• Water
• Modified palm and palm oils (6%)
• Salt
• Buttermilk powder (0.2%) (milk)
• Natural flavours
• Lactic acid
• Vitamin A palmitate (vitamin A)
• Vitamin D3
• Beta carotene
• Soy lecithin
• Calcium disodium EDTA

Margarine is made from vegetable oils (Canola Oil, modified palm oil and palm oil) which contain unsaturated fats that help to reduce low-density lipoprotein (LDL) which is a type of cholesterol known to lead to risk of heart diseases.

Soy lecithin is used in margarine because of its feature of water-in-oil emulsion properties. It is used as an emulsifier and it helps with improving the elasticity of margarine when it is used for baking purposes.

Calcium disodium EDTA is a food additive that is used as a preservative and also works as a flavoring agent. It acts as a chelating agent meaning that it binds to metals and prevents it from causing discoloration or flavor loss.

Lactic acid is added so that lacto-fermentation can preserve food.

Salt also helps preserve margarine and it is also used to add flavour.

Beta carotene is used to colour margarine and it is converted into vitamin A in the body.

Vitamin A and D3 are added to margarine during production to enrich the food item.

How is Margarine made?

Soybeans, corn, and canola seeds are most commonly used in the production of margarine. The oils of these vegetables are extracted using high temperatures and pressures and then further processed with solvents such as hexane to remove the remnant oils. Hexane, although a toxic organic solvent, is used for oil extraction because of its unique properties including its purity and capability to evaporate at low temperatures and steam cleaning completely. Following the extraction of oils is the hydrogenation of fatty acids to form saturated fats. This process takes place in the presence of a nickel catalyst at high temperatures. Saturated fats are fatty acids with single-bonded carbon atoms which are fully bonded to hydrogen atoms and attached to an acid group. Hydrogenation allows margarine to withstand high temperatures and be solid at room temperature as it raises the melting point of the oils. Once hydrogenation is completed, it is important to ensure that the mixture primarily consists of triglycerides. Triglycerides consist of three fatty acid chains bonded to a glycerol molecule. Later, emulsifiers such as lecithin are added to the mixture to promote the stability of the final product and retain consistency. Throughout the process, the mixture develops a gray-like color which is then lightened using activated charcoals or clays in a process called bleaching. And lastly, artificial flavors, synthetic vitamins, and natural colourings are added to give us the margarine we consume in our diet.

Packaging

Margarine plastic packaging of 1948, where a red capsule in the centre of the package contained yellow colouring which consumers would pinch open in order to dye the margarine (normally white) to a more pleasing aesthetic.

Standard packaging of margarine in modern times, with a plastic bucket with margarine already yellow when consumers open it.

Margarine, unlike butter, cannot form firm sticks due to the nature of the plastic-like physical state that margarine has. This renders packaging such as aluminum foil unusable for margarine. Since the beginning of its existence, plastic has been the preferred method of packaging.

Initially due to its unappetizing lard-like white appearance, efforts were made to have yellow colouring agents packaged with the white margarine for consumers to mix in a bowl at home. Eventually, the plastic packaging contained a pill containing the yellowing agent for consumers to break and mix in the yellow colour into the margarine.

In current times, round, oval, or rectangular plastic tubs containing already-yellowed margarine are the most widely used form of packaging. It also comes with the added bonus of being easy to open by simply lifting its lid to let consumers have easy access to the spread.

Margarine is a water in oil emulsion and since it is high in fats it is prone to lipid oxidation and potential deterioration in its quality. Therefore, plastic acts as a way to to prevent light and oxygen transmission and reduce the likelihood of oxidative rancidity occurring in the high-fat margarine.

Margarine Principal display panel, stating "TOTAL FAT: 92% Canola Oil, 8% Vegetable Oils"

In terms of labeling, percentage oil declarations on the principal display panel is not mandatory in most of Canada, with the exception of Quebec, where a declaration of the percentage each oil type used is necessary. For example, on a package of Becel Original margarine, the labeling states: "Total fat: 92% Canola Oil, 8% Vegetable Oils." When a product states "vegetable oils," it can encompass a mixture of several different oils such as corn oil, cotton seed oil, and soybean oil. The packaging also states to keep the margarine tub refrigerated and to use clean utensils in order to prevent deterioration. Margarine is not necessarily required to have a best before date since it has a storage life of longer than 90 days.

Example of a Best Before date on Margarine

Current Canadian Regulations

Like many foods available in Canada, margarine follows strict Canadian regulations in order to be produced and sold to consumers. The regulations of margarine are stated under Division 9 (Fats and Oils) in the Canadian Food and Drug Regulations. The regulations state that margarine should be an emulsion of water in fats or oil that have not been derived from milk. Another regulation that is highlighted is the required fat levels of margarine, where margarine products are to be not less than less than 80 percent fat. There are also some regulations on the amounts of Vitamin A, Vitamin D and Vitamin E that can be present in margarine. Some ingredients that are allowed in margarine include skim milk powder, buttermilk powder or liquid buttermilk, flavouring agents, sweetening agents and specific types of emulsifying agents (i.e., lecithin). The Food and Drug Regulations does not specify exactly which flavouring and sweetening agents are allowed in margarine as opposed to stating the exact pH adjusting agents, preservatives, and sequestering agents that are permitted in these products. Despite the long history of tight regulations on the colour of margarine and the controversial debate on margarine sharing the same yellow colour as butter, the regulations now allow the following food colouring agents in margarine: annatto, ß-apo-8′- carotenal, canthaxanthin, carotene, ethyl ß-apo-8′-carotenoate and turmeric. Margarine follows the same labelling requirements as other foods sold in Canada (refer for exceptions in the 'Packaging' section above) and is included in the ‘Ingredients Exempt from Component Declaration’ list where margarine is exempt from declaring its list of ingredients when used as an ingredient in another food.

Health Concerns

As discussed previously, butter contains higher levels of saturated and trans fats than margarine because butter obtains fat from heavy cream whereas margarine obtains fat from vegetable oils. At a basic level, the poly- and mono-unsaturated fats found in plants have been shown to decrease low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, a major contributor to heart disease (which is the most common cause of death worldwide). Saturated and trans fats have been associated with a host of cardiovascular and cognitive diseases through effects on lipoprotein metabolism, endothelial function, membrane fluidity, and inflammation. However, there is no high quality evidence supporting the replacement of margarine in other markers of cardiovascular health, such as reducing BMI or the risk of diabetes.

The health benefits of margarine vary with its form. More solid margarine is supplemented with saturated and trans fats to create their shape, negating any potential health benefits. In general the less solid, more spreadable forms of margarine contain the most unsaturated fats. The health benefits of butter vary with the diet of the cows. Butter made from grass-fed cows has been associated with a significant decrease in the risk of cardiovascular disease, presumably due to the higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids in grass-fed dairy products.

The true health impact of tub margarine or grass-fed butter is clouded by the extreme complexity of human diets, genetic contributions, as well as the studies’ methodological considerations and the roles of bias and confounding.

Exam Question

Decades ago, plastic packages of margarine included a capsule that consumers would pinch open within the package and would mix its contents into the margarine before use. What was the purpose of the capsule?

A) The capsule contains preservatives to help extend the shelf-life of the margarine.

B) The capsule contains essential nutrients that would degrade if it was mixed in during the packaging process.

C) The capsule contains yellow colouring to give the margarine a pleasing butter-like appearance rather than looking like white lard.

D) The capsule contains substances that makes the margarine more solid to make it have a plastic-like consistency rather than liquid.

ANSWER: C)

Why the question should be on the final exam:

We learned about additives and food colouring in lesson 4 and that they can make foods more attractive to consumers if they look more appetizing to eat.

We also learned about the importance of the appearance of the foods we buy in multiple lessons. It is interesting to know that consumers were initially turned off on the idea of white, lard-looking margarine so manufacturers decided to use colouring to make the margarine yellow.

It also shows that packaging margarine has continuously evolved to the point where margarine is already yellow when bought from store shelves.