Eschewing the fat

The textbook recipe is a dying breed as producers restructure for healthy indulgence and cost savings.

Reducing the fat content is one way of improving ice cream's health credentials, but this clearly presents formulation challenges, as Finn Hjort Christensen, who is responsible for ice cream application at Danisco, says: "The physical properties of fats have a great influence on the development of ice cream structure during the freezing process. Fat contributes to the microstructure of the ice cream, contributing to its texture, body and appearance and sensory properties."​

Nizo food research believes the potential to create better tasting reduced-fat products lies in harnessing the protein in ice cream. Through a project with University College Cork and the University of Guelph, Nizo researchers have discovered that high pressure treatment can strongly enhance the functionality of milk proteins.

Under pressure​

"We worked out that when you apply high pressure treatment the aggregation of the protein creates a structure similar to that created by fat. Basically, the protein is taking over the role of the fat in creating a desirable structure. It's already in there, so you might as well start utilising it,"​ says senior scientist, Thom Huppertz, from Nizo.

"High pressure treatment could have several important benefits for ice cream manufacturers, including reducing the fat content without additives, or replacing stabilisers that are normally included to prevent ice crystallisation. These benefits are a result of the increased viscosity and higher resistance to melting induced by the treatment."​

In these trials, Huppertz says they reduced the fat content in ice cream from 6-10% to 2%, without adding any other ingredients. He says that high pressure processing is ready for use by industry, but it will primarily appeal to producers of higher-value ice creams as it is more expensive than traditional heat treatments.

More conventional solutions to the fat reduction challenge have sprung up in the form of ingredients that claim to enable the creation of full- bodied, reduced fat products.

Cargill, for example, has designed functional systems specifically for fat-reduced ice creams.

"Our specific formulation of an emulsifier and selected hydrocolloids enables us to better functionalise the dairy fat and the aqueous phase and thus recover an equivalent rheological [fluidity] profile. We keep creaminess, consistency and body without modifying the meltdown [properties] or shelf-life stability,​" says Matthieu Bertoux, dairy category manager.

Inulin's potential​

Inulin seems to have found favour with product developers, owing to its ability to take up space that would have been occupied by fat.

Beneo has created a composition of short-chain inulin molecules for use in ice cream. Branded Orafti HSI (Highly Soluble Inulin), the ingredient (from chicory root) combines the fat replacement attributes of inulin with the sensory properties of oligofructose.

Beneo says that by combining Orafti HSI with its Remyline AX-DR rice starch in ice cream, it has been able to reduce fat by 50%, sugars by 30% and calories by 30%.

However, in the context of soaring commodity prices, is it enough for ingredients to deliver fat reductions?

"Firms are looking for solutions to lower the fat content of their ice cream products while reducing the cost at the same time,"​ says Caroline Sanders, global marketing and communication director at Tate & Lyle Specialty Food Ingredients.

Tate & Lyle has developed a starch, Creamiz, that it claims can help reduce fat content while maintaining the creaminess and texture of a full-fat alternative. It has used it as the foundation for a prototype, branded: ice cream Optimize.

"Utilising Creamiz as a replacement ingredient can help firms reduce an ice cream's fat content by 20% and deliver significant cost savings, while retaining the product's original creaminess and texture,"​ says Sanders.

Fat chance​

Reducing a recipe's reliance on dairy fats can cut costs but can present a challenge, as ADM's Phil Hogan, director, global oils and fats, explains: "With most countries having a minimum required milk fat content for ice cream, producers must take labelling considerations into account. Retaining an indulgent taste is also difficult as traditional ice cream fats contain up to 95% saturated fat."​

Nizo has been working on a project to replace dairy fat with plant-based fats in ice creams, but says achieving the right taste and mouthfeel has proved tricky.

"Milk fat melts over a wide temperature range from -40°C to +40°C, which gives dairy ice cream its unique creaminess. Vegetable fats have a much sharper melting profile," ​says Huppertz. "Our work has focused on finding the combination of fats that will give the right melting profile."​

He says they are some way off the 'golden standard' of milk fat, but that they hope to get there. "In an ideal world, producers would be able to completely eliminate fat, but the technology is not yet there to do that."​

Others claim full replacement of dairy fat with vegetable fat is possible right now. Danisco, for example, says that hardened or unhardened coconut oil, palm kernel oil, palm oil and fraction of palm oil are often used in ice cream, for cost and supply reasons. Danisco says the taste and colour conferred by dairy fat can be imitated by adding flavouring and colouring.

A blend of highly saturated palm kernel oil and monounsaturated high-oleic sunflower oil containing 6080% solid fat is the optimum combination, according to findings from the University of Guelph in Ontario, reported in the Journal of Food Science last year.

Protein boost​

Ice cream firms are also looking to replace skimmed milk powder (SMP) with lower-priced alternatives.

"Functional soya proteins are growing in popularity in the ice cream industry, as the fluctuating price of SMP/non-fat dried milk challenges manufacturers,"​ notes ADM's Hogan.

He says soya protein isolates from ADM's Pro-Fam range can replace up to 100% of the SMP if there is a desire to maintain a specific protein content in the final product. Alternatively, use of the functional soya concentrate Arcon S can deliver even greater cost savings. These ingredients bind water and emulsify fat in a similar way to dairy protein, ensuring a similar texture.

Whey proteins are another option, but according to Lars Witt Thomsen, regional sales manager with Arla Foods Ingredients' ice cream group, they can only partially replace cream and milk powders, because of quality problems such as unpleasant off-taste or short melting time.

Arla Foods has developed a suite of milk protein ingredients under the Nutrilac IC brand, which are being used to replace SMP in ice cream.

"The fat-simulating properties are largely attributable to the size of the protein particles, which is similar to that of the fat globule,"​ says Thomsen. "In ice cream ageing, their role in the fat destabilisation process strengthens the structure of low-fat ice cream, securing the desired [production volumes] and level of creaminess with a single churning process."​

Dairy-free​

While he is reluctant to place an exact value on the cost savings that can be achieved with Nutrilac IC, he does hint that "the big players will only go into a project if they can save 20% on ingredient costs"​.

But cost isn't the only motivation. Beneo believes the market is ripe for dairy-free and lactose-free ice cream ingredient solutions, which prompted the development of Nutriz M IC: a 100% vegetable milk powder replacer based on rice and its derivatives.

"Its tiny starch granules mimic the feel of fat globules in the mouth, which makes rice starch the ideal fat replacer for dairy desserts and ice creams," ​says Stefanie de Roover, product manager at Nutriz.

The first products are emerging, says de Roover, with B'Nice ice cream, on sale in Belgium one of the first.

As more is learnt about protein and starch functionality, super-premium ice cream could become the sole refuge of dairy ingredients.