Cargill develops Halal alternative to pork fat

With more than 1.5 billion Muslims worldwide, ADROGEL GR allows food manufacturers to produce meat products that meet Halal requirements, while still benefiting from the functional qualities associated with pork fat.

30/11/06 Cargill Texturizing Solutions has developed a unique solution for the Halal meat products market  – ADROGEL GR is a blend that enables manufacturers to obtain a restructured vegetable fat suitable to replace the pork fat used in many meat products.

With more than 1.5 billion Muslims worldwide, ADROGEL GR allows food manufacturers to produce meat products that meet Halal requirements, while still benefiting from the functional qualities associated with pork fat. ADROGEL GR enables cost savings and provides health benefits - being vegetable derived, it has a lower fat content than pork, making it ideally suited to “light” products.

ADROGEL GR can be prepared with cold water and vegetable oil to produce a restructured vegetable fat. It has a white colour and consistency close to that of back pork fat, and can be cut into small pieces for use in meat such as turkey and poultry sausages. 

A growing number of meat products do, in fact, contain pork fat - it is generally favoured for its ready availability, higher melting point and relatively good taste compared to poultry or beef fats, said Frederic Ballber, Meat Application Lead for Europe-Middle-East-Africa for Cargill Texturizing Solutions. Sometimes pork fat is emulsified in the meat paste and is non-visible (for example in cooked sausages such as Frankfurters). Other meat products contain visible white pieces of fat in the meat (for example in mortadella or hamburgers). The function of this fat is not only decorative but also to improve the organoleptic characteristics such as texture and succulence.

 “Meeting the challenge of providing a pork fat substitute was an interesting technical challenge, and we are extremely pleased with the result. ADROGEL GR is a healthy option, which is suitable for muslim consumers - a very significant market for food manufacturers,” Ballber said. “The fact that ADROGEL GR helps cut production costs is another huge benefit, and I’m sure it will have many uses in meat products.”