Cholesterol-free Indulgence
Fine food products with the attribute ‘egg-free’ are gaining in market importance.
23/02/06 Cholesterol-free and cholesterol-reduced products have increasingly moved into the focus of consumer attention. Numerous campaigns on this issue in a multitude of media channels have proven accordingly successful. Demand has risen and the market segment registers highest growth rates. In addition, more and more classics in a new egg-free design are conquering the market, ranging from salad creams and salad mayonnaise to dips, dressings and other emulsified sauces.
The classic range of emulsified sauces in the fine food segment traditionally contains egg as a percentage of the ingredient formula (pasteurized salted egg yolk for industrial production). For decades, typical product characteristics such as taste, optics and emulsion stability of a mayonnaise have been defined through the use of egg/egg yolk. However, it is precisely this quantity of egg that is responsible for a product’s more or less high level of cholesterol. Due to the increasing number of campaigns, egg could thus end up having a weakening effect on the sales of this product range.
Producers are looking for ingredient alternatives to egg/egg yolk in order to compensate for this possible decline and to take a share in the increasingly successful market segment of cholesterol-free and cholesterol-reduced products. Hahn have developed these alternatives in a broad range of recipes with a view to stabilizing egg-free emulsified sauces while assuring that typical quality criteria on taste, optics, emulsion stability and excellent texture continue to be matched without compromise. Available for all fat contents from 20-60% and, where desired, as vegan or lactose-free versions, Hahn systems contain a complex raw material combination as emulsifying component. This comprises vegetable proteins, milk proteins and emulsifying starches. Selection, composition and dosage of a system is individually adjusted to specific technological, product and marketing requirements.
The application of these alternative emulsifying stabilizer systems additionally offers processing benefits. Easy handling during production and storage – keyword microbiology – goes in line with guaranteed safety regarding controlled, steady high quality and security of the products.
Health benefits and quality requirements are not the only aspect under which to consider egg-free products though. A shortage of pasteurized egg yolk may be something to expect in the foreseeable future (keyword: bird flu). In this case, Hahn stabilizer systems represent the optimal alternative for a quick response to market requirements. They are allowing producers a smooth transfer of production and marketing to egg-free versions of a multitude of emulsified sauces with which to then benefit from the consumer trend.
