As Food Industry Searches for Alternatives to Fat, Z-Trim Attracts Interest
The food industry is scrambling to come up with new fats for use in preparation of various food products in time to meet a January 1 nutrition-labeling deadline, a March 17th Scripps Howard News Service report notes.
“Changing fats in foods is not as easy as it sounds,” according to the news story, which describes the industry’s search for viable replacement fats for more than 40,000 types of foods, and how that search and transition will be tough for some companies.
As that deadline approaches, one Illinois company is attracting particular interest.
“We believe we have the right product at the right time,” said Rick Harris, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for FiberGel, the subsidiary of Circle Group Holdings, Inc. that produces Z-Trim, a zero calorie fat replacement product that reduces fat, calories and carbohydrates without altering the taste of food favorites. “We can help make the transition to reduced trans and saturated fats easier for producers of processed foods.”
The Scripps Howard article, entitled “Food Industry Hungry for a New Kind of Fat,” notes that trans fats are used widely in baking and frying but have been linked to heart attacks and higher levels of cholesterol. It goes on to note that while there are several “new generations of fat emerging,” many of them are “experiments using plants with altered genetics.”
“We use corn very effectively, Harris said. We don’t have to invent a whole new type of plant to address the problem of saturated and trans fats.”
“Z-Trim isn’t a fat. It’s a smooth gel derived from corn bran that replaces a portion of the saturated and trans fats used widely in food preparation. By reducing a portion of those fats, say 25% to 50%, with Z-Trim, a sizable amount of fats, calories and carbs can be reduced from packaged foods, fast food items, and even in home recipes,” Harris said.
A key concern for food manufacturers currently experimenting with fat alternatives is their impact on taste. Z-Trim is gaining a reputation for its ability to reduce fats without impacting taste. “In our own tests, as well as in studies done at a local university, taste and texture have not been compromised,” Harris said. “In some instances, taste was actually enhanced when prepared with Z-Trim.”
“Z-Trim is used to reduce saturated and trans fats in dairy products, dressings, dips, sauces, cheese, baked goods, breading, coatings, powders, processed meats, snack foods, cookies, pies, cakes, icings, brownies, bars, ice cream, and drink mixes, to name a few,” Harris said.
“It’s a solution that is ready now, and interest is at an all-time high,” he said. “We’ve made Z-Trim available via our web site, www.Z-trim.com, and we’ve heard from hundreds of food companies in the past couple of weeks” said Harris. “We’re working with them to strike a balance that lets them reduce fats without reducing taste.”
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Link to: “Food Industry Hungry for a New Kind of Fat”
(Lance Gay, Scripps Howard News Service)
http://www.shns.com/shns/g_index2.cfm?action=detail&pk=FATS-03-17-05
About FiberGel Technologies
FiberGel owns the worldwide rights to Z-Trim for all fields
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Chef2Chef News Desk