IFT FIRST 2023: AAK leverages plant-based fats and oils for “enhancing” sweet and savory snacks

31 Jul 2023 --- Sweden-based AAK displayed its specialty fat and oil solutions for snacks at the IFT FIRST trade show in Chicago earlier this month. The plant-based concepts are designed to create snacks such as popcorn covered in decadent compound chocolate, succulent plant-based chicken nuggets, thick and rich mayo, cocoa hazelnut spread with reduced oil seepage and more.

Food Ingredients First spoke to Ryan Branch, senior marketing manager at AAK, who talked about the change in consumer demands and the proliferation of snacking habits.

“People are not necessarily grabbing the candy bars or other avenues to snack. AAK is showing them different snacks that can contribute to the mouthfeel and texture.” 

AAK’s multi-sourced specialty fat and oil solutions help manufacturers create “better tasting, healthier and more sustainable foods.”

AAK offers plant-based concepts to create snacks such as popcorn.Branch highlighted some key products at the trade show: “We’re showing our coconut and sunflower oil in plant-based chicken nuggets and cakes, which have sunflower oil blended into the frosting to get a buttercream consistency. We also have confectionery fat drizzled over popcorn.”

Octavio Díaz de Leon, president of Americas and VP at AAK,: “Fats and oils play a critical role in the foods we all enjoy, and our team is proud to provide high-quality and value-adding solutions for our customers.”

At the event, the company featured various prototypes featuring its plant-based oil solutions to cater to today’s dynamic marketplace demands.

Snackification in action
The plant-based trend is fast diversifying into the snacks domain. It signals a new way of snacking.

“Everything is turning into a snack essentially. What was previously just popcorn is now caramel, chocolate and nuts,” says Branch.

Consumers nowadays want their snacks with a healthy spin. For instance, they are eager to try an “alternative” to traditional dairy-based yogurt, states Branch.

Snacks like a cup of yogurt and burgers with cheese are being “swallowed up by plant-based” options. They are turning into “healthier, alternative snacking.”

Plant-based concepts
AAK’s AkoVeg 117-14, a palm-free solution, is used to create plant-based chicken nuggets, while the Silko 3508 flaked shortening provides “structure and clean mouthfeel” to fluffy cut biscuits.AAK at IFT FIRST.

Essence 86-33, a “special blend of palm, palm kernel and canola oils,” is used in chocolate hazelnut butter spread that “won’t oil out.” 

Formulators making popcorns with a chocolate drizzle can use AAK’s “non-hydrogenated coating fats” that contain Cebes 29-01 NH for “faster crystallization.”

The company offers AkoSun 46-53XP high oleic sunflower oil for chocolate cakes with caramel-flavored icing for “better stability and shelf life.”

Cisao 8253 and Cisao 8315 are non-hydrogenated palm oils with “zero trans-fat” to protect the texture and moisture barrier of the inclusions, improve icing “whippability,” and prevent post-hardening in cakes.

Innovation and optimized production
Díaz de Leon also talks about AAK’s innovation efforts: “With AAK’s Customer Co-Development process, supported by bi-coastal innovation centers and our comprehensive toolbox of functional multi-oils and fats, our experts can answer the most demanding product development challenges and help to create products that will keep consumers coming back for more.”

AAK works toward “substituting” existing ingredients with plant-based equivalents for better process efficiency to optimize production. Its plant-based oils are used in confectionery, bakery, dairy, special nutrition and plant-based alternative segments.

In a recent conversation with Food Ingredients First, Luis Parra, global director of chocolate & confectionery fats at AAK, discusses the importance of clean labels and how to work with ingredients widely accepted in the confectionery industry.

By Insha Naureen