Re: How does low fat mayonnaise possess the same properties as full fat

Date: Fri May 13 06:56:47 2005
Posted By: Joe Regenstein, Faculty, Food Science
Area of science: Chemistry
ID: 1110052101.Ch

Message:

Hi!

First off, I would suggest that you do a proper triangle test to determine that most people actually find the two products the same or obviously different (see below).

Prepare two samples of one product and one sample of the other (use the same commercial brand for comparison, e.g., all Kraft or all Hellman's or whichever brand you have in the UK).
Do some with the whole fat as the pair and some with the low fat as the pair.
You'll need a statistical table to determine significant differences as one should get it right a third of the time with random guessing.
Calculate your results from the people tested.

My suspicion is that people can tell the difference. However, the fact is that the low fat product is pretty good. The key is the use of the starches to replace the fat -- we use the term "fat mimetics" -- by getting the starch particle size "right," you can create a similar mouthfeel to that of the fat. Other "flavors" have to be adjusted because the starch system functions differently than the fat system. So at the end of the day you have a pretty good substitute when you get the technology right.

Cheers.

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