Going lecithin-free

With global supply chains of sunflower oil and lecithin thrown into disarray due to the Russia-Ukraine war, margarine manufacturers needed an affordable emulsifier alternative ... and fast Hamed Safafar

The sunflower is the national flower of Ukraine and the country was – until 24 February 2022 – the world’s largest supplier of sunflower oil and lecithin.

The invasion by Russia – the world’s second-largest sunflower oil producer – reduced exports to a trickle, with household margarine manufacturers left scrabbling for soyabean or rapeseed alternatives as global prices rocketed.

Many businesses use sunflower lecithin alone or in combination with mono- and diglyceride emulsifiers, but after the war started, supplies were drying up.

A lot of table margarine producers had been using sunflower lecithin in their recipes for many years and it was difficult to comprehend that, essentially, this product had ceased to exist.

Some producers did not have enough supply in the warehouse to carry on manufacturing and many did not want to switch to soya lecithin as this has to be declared on labels as an allergen.

More than 80% of the global soyabean crop is also genetically modified, which is a big issue for European consumers.

The result was increasing demand for rapeseed lecithin and soaring prices.

An alternative was therefore needed very quickly – an affordable, balanced product made from a blend of emulsifiers which could imitate, or even improve, the functionality of sunflower lecithin.

Lecithin's role

The world’s first commercial emulsifier, which revolutionised the margarine industry, was invented in 1917 by the founder of Danish emulsifier and stabiliser company Palsgaard.

By the 1930s, lecithin – a naturally occurring emulsifier derived today mainly from sunflowerseeds, soyabeans or rapeseed – was being used in margarine for its broad range of functions, including making margarine spreadable straight from the fridge, imparting taste and mouthfeel, delivering excellent baking performance, and creating a good browning effect when frying.

Lecithin molecules have a lipophilic end attracted to fats and a hydrophilic end with an affinity for water, enabling them to bind together substances that do not otherwise blend smoothly, such as oil and water.

Margarine is a water-in-oil emulsion, with lecithin essential for enabling the water and oil to mix well. This emulsifying action improves the texture and inhibits bacterial growth by separating the water molecules, thereby extending the shelf life of the margarine. It also cuts down on spatter when frying and enables good aeration in a cake batter, creating a soft light bake.

An alternative lecithin-free product needs to satisfy all these requirements. And with margarine and spread manufacturers operating in multiple locations, from Europe to Africa, with different recipes and processing conditions for each region, it was important to learn the effects of process conditions and fat recipes on the functionality of any new product.

Clean labels

With Palsgaard working to produce a lecithin-free emulsifier and the increasing importance of leaner, cleaner labels, one of the development team’s goals was to streamline the raw ingredients in the new emulsifier to just two E numbers.

The first thing Palsgaard was make a product with citric acid esters of monoand diglycerides [E472c], and mono- and diglycerides [E471]. After two months of intense experimentation, the company came up with a completely lecithin-free recipe that worked well and was ready to be tested on customer sites. Another two months later, Palsgaard was sending out samples.

The two emulsifiers produced by Palsgaard are based on Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil segregated (RSPO SG), certified palm oil or rapeseed.

"Our RSPO SG-certified palm oil product is readily available and has a far higher yield than sunflower or rapeseed, but for those who prefer to be palmfree, we have also created an option with rapeseed, which is cultivated widely in many regions, including Europe and Canada," the company says.

“As we worked to optimise the blends, we must have gone through more than 200 trials. But just two months after taking on this challenge, the new products were ready to be tested in customer sites, and we were sending out samples four months into the project, with many of our customers using them immediately.”

Fulfilling rising demand

Palsgaard says it would have produced lecithin-free emulsifiers even if the Ukraine war had not happened although development would have been slower as it typically takes a year for a new product to come to market.

Lecithin cannot provide all the functionality many manufacturers require, and not every producer wants to use it.

It is not the strongest emulsifier so it has to be used in relatively high ratios, which has a cost implication. It is also naturally dark in colour, which can affect product appearance. Another issue is that because lecithin contains some liquid oil, it can become a bit sticky in higher temperatures, which presents a handling problem.

Palsgaard says its new lecithin-free products are white and therefore have no influence on margarine colour.

The new products create a stable emulsion that does not get sticky even in a warm climate where no cold transport chain is available, says the company.

Two other key areas where the new lecithin-free emulsifiers deliver are taste neutrality and stability, according to Palsgaard.

“Lecithin’s phospholipid balance is affected by crop condition, which means every new batch has to be tested and balanced, as there is always variation.

“With our lecithin-free emulsifiers, any variation is extremely low, so it’s much easier for customers to rely on them for continuous production,” the company says.

The end result is a product which confers greater stability, better texture, a slightly higher melting point and better spatter control, Palsgaard says.

As well as providing a portfolio of standard recipes and processes for the new lecithin-free emulsifiers, Palsgaard also has a small-scale pilot facility capable of producing batches of up to 30kg, where manufacturers can be helped to develop products for specific applications without needing to produce tonnes of margarine.

"Customers can also potentially use less compared with lecithin-containing products, which is a cost advantage." ●

Hamed Safafar is the application manager and senior applications scientist for lipids at Palsgaard A/S, Denmark