With the new Dietary Guidelines for Americans rolling out, many food manufacturers are looking for ways to adjust their existing formulations or to create new products that will adhere to these new recommendations. Since the guidelines suggest reducing saturated fat, you may be looking for healthier oils to meet your product development needs.
What type of oil should you consider?
Non-GMO sunflower oil is recommended in the new guidelines. It is a premium oil high in monounsaturated fats and since it contains only a trace of Omega 3 polyunsaturated fat, it is more stable than many other oils. As a result, sunflower oil gives many foods a longer shelf life.
If you are creating fried or par-fried foods, sunflower oil has a longer fry life than and it has lower rate of absorption than many other oils.
How can sunflower oil improve product formulations?
Sunflower oil has a neutral taste which is ideal for a wide variety of applications, since it won't change the flavor of your customers' favorite foods. Sunflower oil can help create cleaner labels for your products, due to natural antioxidants that help maintain shelf life and it can meet claims for low/no/reduced allergens. Sunflower oil also meets an FDA claim that states high-oleic oils may reduce the risk of heart disease1.
Sunflower Oil is ideal for today's food trends
With consumers looking for healthier snack foods, plant-based products, non-dairy milks and lower-fat bakery products, sunflower oil can be blended with other fats and oils to reduce the saturated fat content. Sunflower oil fulfills many of the technical needs of product developers and if you are looking for a non-GMO, Kosher or Halal oil, sunflower oil is an excellent replacement.
What next?
A recent survey indicated that 71% of consumers are interested in purchasing products made with sunflower oil.2 If you are curious about how sunflower oil will perform in your product formulations, download this helpful guide or contact a sunflower oil supplier.
- Edible oils must contain at least 70% oleic acid and need to be substituted for saturated fats. All high oleic sunflower oil and some mid oleic sunflower oil qualify for this claim.
- Omnibus survey hosted on the Maru/Blue Research Forum on October 22, 2018