Food-grade double emulsions as effective fat replacers in meat systems

Double emulsions were used to not only replace 7 and 11% of animal fat in meat products, but also as a way to enhance the product colour. The coarse emulsion containing native beetroot juice as inner water phase, sunflower oil as oil phase and 0.5% whey protein isolate as outer water phase was prepared using a rotor stator system. The resulting coarse double emulsion had a typical average droplet size of 32 μm, that was refined further using a hybrid membrane premix emulsification system resulting in an average droplet size of 20 μm. Both double emulsions were exposed to heat threatment (70 °C for 30 min), and were physically stable due to the high viscosity (2.9 Pa s). Besides these emulsions had high colour retention. When added to meat systems, both double emulsions showed good water and fat binding capacity, and they reduced the hardness and improved the colour of meat systems, which are both desirable characteristics. The main conclusion of the paper is that double emulsion technology can be used to reach dual functionality in meat products; reduction of caloric load and colour retention.