Enrichment of anhydrous milk fat in polyunsatured fatty acid residues from linseed and rapeseed oil through enzymatic interesterification

The interesterification, or ester exchange, between two fats leads to the rearrangement of acyl moieties in both. The use of a sn-1,3-specific lipase confines the exchange of fatty acid residues to the sn-1 and sn-3 positions of triacylglycerides (TAG), generating products with characteristics that cannot be obtained through a chemical process or a blending. Such reactions require mild conditions with no solvent needed and they yield no unhealthful trans fatty acids, justifying the stepped-up interest of enzymatic interesterification for the production of margarines and other food fats.
The aim of this work was to use enzymatic interesterification to enrich anhydrous milk fat (AMF) with unsaturated fatty acid C18 residues from linseed oil (LO) and eventually from rapeseed oil (RO) through some binary blends and one ternary blend. For that, the 1,3-specific lipase from Thermomyces lanuginosa (Lipozyme TL IM) was used in solvent-free batch and micro-aqueous reactions and fat blends with different mass ratios were tested. The evolution of TAG profiles, of interesterification degre (ID) and of free fatty acids (FFA), was followed along the reactions.
Determination of dropping points (DP) and solid fat contents (SFC) enabled a rheological characterization of the products. The end products were also characterized for their oxidative stability and their textural properties.