Spread or spread (from the English. Spread - spreading, stretching) - a kind of food products based on a mixture of vegetable and milk fats with a mass fraction of total fat from 39 to 95%. Usually, a composition is selected that, when chilled, spreads more easily than natural butter .
In addition to fats, various flavors, flavors and vitamins can also be added to spreads. From the point of view of the consumer, the spread can be considered as a surrogate for butter.
Content
The origin of the word
The product category of spreads has long been on the market, but part of the name was usually the word “oil” - “combination oil”, “soft oil”, “light oil”, etc. The term began to be widely used after the appearance of special GOST Russia (GOST R 52100 -2003, "Spreads and melted mixtures. General technical conditions", OKS 67.200.10, effective from July 1, 2004 ).
The word "spread" comes from the English. to spread - "smear, smear." In English, this word denotes any product that can be spread with a knife on bread or cookies. But in the Russian language the word "spread" refers to a particular fatty product. For the general naming of all spreadable products (including specially prepared mixtures of vegetables, cottage cheese or other products), the word " spread " is used .
Features of production and composition
According to GOST R 52100-2003, “Spreads and melted mixtures. General technical conditions. ”, Spreads are divided into three subspecies:
- creamy-vegetable ones contain more than 50% of milk fat (closest to natural butter)
- vegetable-creamy contain from 15 to 49% milk fat
- vegetable fat does not contain milk fat (almost pure margarine)
The difference between the spread and margarine is that in the spreads the use of hydrogenated fats is limited and the content of transisomers of fatty acids is normatively controlled, and in margarine there are practically no such restrictions.
The word “oil” should not be present on the packaging with the spread. It should be clearly written that it is a creamy-vegetable, vegetable-creamy or vegetable-fatty product (depending on the composition).
In the spreads, the content of transisomers of fatty acids should not exceed 2% from January 1, 2018, which is regulated by the Technical Regulations of the Customs Union . The consumption of foods with a high level of trans isomers can cause various cardiovascular and oncological diseases, ovulation infertility and Alzheimer's disease [1] [2] , worsen the blood lipid spectrum and increase the risk of coronary heart disease at an early age [3] . In European countries, for example, the content of these substances is regulated in the range from two (Denmark, Switzerland) to five (UK) percent. In the United States, the American Association for Public Health has proclaimed the voluntary abandonment of the use of fats containing trans fatty acid isomers [4] .
It is very important what is the composition of vegetable fats used in the spread. Fats from mixtures of palm and coconut oils practically do not contain trans isomers and can be used in spreads with a low content of milk fat.
Also, in the production of spreads, hydrogenated soybean and sunflower oil are used . After hydrogenation in these oils, the content of trans isomers reaches 50%. Therefore, the content of such fats in the product should be minimal. The high content of milk fat allows you to reduce the proportion of trans isomers to 16-26%.
The best quality spreads are obtained using substitutes of milk fat with a low content of trans isomers (6–7%), which are obtained by mixing several fats, with the mandatory introduction of transesterified fats in order to obtain a melting schedule for the mixture close to the melting schedule for milk fat. Using the enzyme transesterification method, the number of trans isomers can be reduced even more [5] .
Differences from Butter
Butter is made on the basis of milk fat, the spread is with the addition of vegetable oil. Because of this, the spread, in comparison with butter, contains less cholesterol ; in the manufacture, it is enriched with phytosterol and vitamins (usually A , D ).
Unsaturated fatty acids (both monounsaturated and polyunsaturated) predominate in the spreads. Butter contains predominantly saturated fats. The World Health Organization in 2005 recommended reducing saturated fat intake to reduce the risk of heart disease.
According to the content of trans isomers, GOST R 52100-2003 sets the value for spreads to 8%. Moreover, in butter, their content is usually 4-8%.
Comparative indicators according to GOST (average values):
| Indicator | Butter | Spread |
|---|---|---|
| Base ingredient | Milk fat | Vegetable fat |
| Cholesterol | 0.18% | 0% |
| The content of trans isomers | No more than 8% | No more than 8% |
| Saturated Fatty Acids | 61.6% | 41.5% |
| Unsaturated fatty acids | 34.4% | 58.1% |
| Monounsaturated Fatty Acids | 29.8% | 38.5% |
| Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids | 5.8% | 19.6% |
Notes
- ↑ Trans fatty acids and fatty acid composition of mature breast milk in Turkish women and their association with maternaldiets. Lipids, 2009, v. 44, No. 5, p. 405-414.
- ↑ Nutrition and health in Europe: a new framework for action. WHO regional publications. European Series, No. 96. - 505 p.
- ↑ Alberto Ascherio, Martijn B. Katan, Peter L. Zock, Meir J. Stampfer, Walter C. Willett. Trans Fatty Acids and Coronary Heart Disease // New England Journal of Medicine. - 1999-06-24. - T. 340 , no. 25 . - S. 1994-1998 . - ISSN 0028-4793 . - DOI : 10.1056 / nejm199906243402511 .
- ↑ World Health Statistics 2010. WHO publication. - 177 p.
- ↑ Nishida C., Uauy R. WHO Scientific Update on health consequences of trans fatty acids: introduction. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2009) 63, Issue S2.