PALM-ALT: Novel palm fat replacer for the food industry

Led by the Scottish Centre for Food Development and Innovation (SCFDI) based at Queen Margaret University, the PALM-ALT project aims to provide a game-changing solution to the environmental issues associated with the food industry's dependency on the over-cultivation of palm. Due to its unique lipid composition allowing it to be solid at room temperature and its low production costs, palm oil has become the main functional fat ingredient across the food industry, including the bakery sector in which it is used for its texturising, shortening, foam stabilisation and mouthfeel properties. However, due to the devastating environmental impact of palm over-cultivation the industry is looking for sustainable alternatives. Alongside efforts to develop more sustainable cultivation practises, current palm fat replacement strategies have led to a number of commercial products, however, their impact and expansion are limited due to health-related concerns including high saturated fat content. The PALM-ALT solution is based on a novel combination of ingredients (linseed processing co-product and beta-glucan), which when processed in specific conditions is able to mimic palm fat functionality, allowing to replace it with healthier rapeseed oil. This phase 1 project will seek to demonstrate the technical feasibility of processing this ingredient mix into a palm fat replacer and to incorporate this novel ingredient in a range palm-free bakery applications including cake, biscuit and oatcake. This project will pave the way for the development of healthier palm-free bakery products, which will allow partner companies to capture a significant segment of their relevant bakery sectors, thus contributing to their recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and to reducing the bakery sector's dependency on the over-cultivation of palm and importations of palm fat.