Low Fat Spreads

The current generation of dairy products contains those that have been functionally improved by enhanced formulation of the conventional products. The functionality may be based on physiological or health considerations, or may have physical implications relating to convenience of use. This new type of products is deriving impetus from the consumer focus on health and well-being as well as convenience.

New products formulation/development may also be governed by the consumer’s needs and desires such as extended shelf life, low cost, added flavour/texture appeal and other sensory quality improvements. Demand for special foods on account of dietary reasons is also increasing, more so because of the implication of high-fat dairy products like cream, butter, ghee, etc. in health problems. Butter is one of the important dietary dairy products in India as well as countries advanced in dairying. However, in recent years consumption of butter in most advanced countries has declined because of the following reasons:

•  Very poor spredability at temperatures below 150 C
•  High cost
•  High saturated fatty acids content
•  High cholesterol content
•  High caloric value
•  Suspected role in heart diseases and medical recommendations aimed at promoting the consumption of more unsaturated fat.

Consumer awareness and the resulting demand for new products which have solutions to the problems associated with butter consumption has opened space for dairy manufacturers to introduce ‘modern’ products. This has led to emergence of new categories of dairy products including “low fat spreads”.A ‘spread’ (or ‘table spread’) may be defined as a product, semi-solid in nature,characterized by adequate ‘stand-up’ ability (i.e. capacity to support its own weight) and yet be ‘spreadable’ on a bread slice or toast with moderate effort. Such a ‘plastic’ product usually has a wide ‘plasticity range’ i.e. it will retain its form or shape at normal ambient temperature (or, room temperature) and also be pliable enough ‘directly out of refrigerator’, refrigeration being the commonly required storage condition for such products.A ‘low-fat spread’, as the term indicates is a spread with a fat content appreciably lower than the normal one (which is 80% in conventional table butter). Although the fat content may vary over a wide range low-fat spreads often contain about half the fat content of butter or margarine (a butter-like product obtained essentially from vegetable oils/fats) i.e. approx. 40%. Such spreads may be obtained solely from milk fat (‘dairy’ spreads) or from vegetable fats and oils (‘non-dairy’ spreads) or a blend of the two (‘mixed’ or ‘blended” spreads). A ‘cheese spread’ is also a dairy spread, but is not a ‘fat spread’ as it is rich more in non-fat solids than in fat, and is characterized by a ‘cheese’ flavour and an ‘oil-in-water’ (O/W) emulsion(where fat is dispersed as droplets in a continuous aqueous or water phase carrying the non-fat solids). Most low-fat spreads (fat content, more than 15%), whether ‘dairy’ or ‘non-dairy’ type, are ‘water-in-oil’ (W/O) emulsion, though ‘very-low-fat’ spreads may be of O/w type. The first low-fat spread was developed and marketed in UK during 1968.Low-fat dairy spreads are variously designated as ‘half butter’, ‘half-fat butter’,‘low-calorie spread’, ‘reduced-fat butter’, ‘low-fat butter’ etc. Low-fat spread in which caloric reduction is less than 33% are sometimes termed as ‘reduced-calorie’ spread.