Rice bran wax and soybean oil as potential substitutes for pork fat in meat emulsions. Rice bran wax is vegetable wax extracted from rice bran oil.
A study from the University of Iowa tested a gel, called oleogel, stable formed by rice bran wax and soybean oil as a substitute for animal fat added to frankfurter sausages. The study demonstrated the technological potential of this oleogel composed of rice bran wax and soybean oil as a substitute for animal fat in frankfurter-type sausages, maintaining acceptable sensory properties of the product. These results complement other studies that used the oleogel composed of ethyl cellulose and canola as partial fat substitutes in sausages.
Oleogel is a mixture of a common oil, which can be canola, soybean, sunflower, peanut, corn, etc., with a percentage of a structuring agent, that is, something that gives it a gel-like appearance, very similar to that of a fat. In this case, the oil is soybean and the structuring agent is rice bran wax. The structuring agent forms a three-dimensional network, like a sponge, that can support a large amount of oil. This three-dimensional network traps the oil. The manufacture of an oleogel involves the melting of a gelling agent (rice bran wax) into liquid oil (soybean oil), followed by cooling to form a three-dimensional gel network. The aim was to evaluate the effects of using this gel as a substitute for animal fat.
There are still many challenges for the product to have the same acceptance as the composition of traditional sausage, but the replacement of animal fat has been studied recently and there is a vast market to be explored for products with a lower concentration of saturated fats.
Read here the study in full.
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