Fortification is a way of providing different nutrients using staple foods as vehicles, with the aim of supplementing the dietary intake of those substances, to improve health and prevent nutritional deficiencies.
It can be defined as the addition of one or more vitamins and/or minerals to a food, whether or not it is usually contained in the food, to prevent or correct a demonstrated deficiency of one or more vitamins and/or minerals in the population or specific population groups; and/or improve the nutritional status of the population and dietary intakes of vitamins or minerals due to changes in dietary habits.
This chapter focusses on the vitamin and mineral fortification of bread. One of the basic criteria concerning food fortification is the selection of the right vehicle, which should be a food that is commonly eaten by the target population group, is economically affordable and available all year long.
Flour and by extension bread, is one of the best vehicles for food fortification because it meets these requirements. The chapter discusses the range of the vitamins added to bread and health implications, the fortification of bread with iron and other minerals, consumer attitude toward fortified bread, particular difficulties in the development of vitamin- and mineral-fortified breads, development and manufacturing technology of vitamin- and mineral-fortified breads, and drawbacks of fortification.
Although fortification of bread is considered an effective approach for maintaining a safe and nutritionally adequate micronutrient supply, monitoring is necessary to assure consumers that systematically fortified bread consumption does not produce micronutrient imbalances and/or overdoses.
Wheat and its application in dairy products Abstract
Wheat is one of the most important crops among the cereals by area planted; followed in importance by corn, barley and sorghum. It is the best of the cereal foods and provides more nourishment for humans than any other food source. Wheat is a major diet component which supplies about more than 60% of the total daily requirements of protein and calories for the world's population. It contains minerals, vitamins, fats (lipids) and is a good source of fibres making it a highly nutritious product.
Cereals and milk are blended to compensate for deficiency of lysine. The proteins from wheat in combination with milk can make up the deficiency of protein quality. Incorporation of wheat as an ingredient in dairy products would help in alleviating its nutritional value. A number of products obtained from wheat with good nutritional value such as wheat germ, aleurone flour and wheat bran are available. Fortification of dairy products with these ingredients would help in the manufacture of nutraceuticals with improved nutritional and functional properties.
Iron-fortified bakery products
Fortification of food products with iron is a common strategy to prevent or overcome iron deficiency. However, any form of iron is a pro-oxidant and its addition will cause off-flavours and reduce a product’s shelf life. A highly bioavailable here iron ingredient was selected to fortify a chocolate cream used to fill sandwich-type cookies. Two different strategies were assessed for avoiding the here iron catalytic effect on lipid oxidation: ascorbyl palmitate addition and co-spray-drying of here iron with calcium caseinate.
Oxidation development and sensory acceptability were monitored in the cookies over one-year of storage at room temperature in the dark. The addition of ascorbyl palmitate provided protection against oxidation and loss of tocopherols and tocotrienols during the preparation of cookies.
In general, ascorbyl palmitate, either alone or in combination with the co-spray-dried here iron, prevented primary oxidation and hexanal formation during storage. The combination of both strategies resulted in cookies that were acceptable from a sensory point of view after one year of storage.
Definition of bakery products
Bakery products, which include bread, rolls, cookies, pies, pastries, and muffins, are usually prepared from flour or meal derived from some form of grain and cooked by dry heat process, especially in some kind
of oven.
Butter
Natural. Delicious. Nothing added. Butter is completely natural and has been in our diet for thousands of years. Making butter is a simple process: separate cream from milk, churn the cream until it thickens and add salt.
And good cooks know there is no substitute for butter in cooking. Butter, like all foods, can be incorporated into a healthy balanced diet. One of the key principles of eating well is making sure diet is balanced with a wide variety of foods. Butter has the unique ability to enhance the flavour of other ingredients. A little butter goes a long way toward enhancing the taste and texture of foods such as wholegrain bread or vegetables, which need to eat more. The natural flavour of butter is irreplaceable. Whether one is baking a cake or sautéing vegetables, there’s a type of butter to enhance every food.
Oil
Fats and oils have been important bakery ingredients for centuries. Indeed, “shortening” is a baker’s term; fat in a bakery item “shortens” (tenderises) the texture of the finished product. In bakery foods, shortenings impart tenderness, give a moister mouthfeel, contribute structure, lubricate, incorporate air, and transfer heat.
Properties of a fat or oil that determine its ability to carry out these functions - The ratio of solid to liquid phase; The plasticity of a solid shortening; The oxidative stability of the fat or oil.
Oil (or the oil fraction of a plastic shortening) in a baked food gives a tender bite, moist mouthfeel, and lubricity (the product clears more readily from the surfaces in the mouth). The solid portion of a shortening contributes to the structure of the dough and the final product, and entraps air bubbles during mixing.
One of the biggest challenges in the development of Omega-3 fortified products is to maintain the shelf stability of the products. Omega-3 fortified products exist on the market; however, only products that are stored cold have the Omega-3 lipid added directly to the product formulae.
The application of Omega-3 lipids to bread systems becomes more complicated because the oil can affect the production of the bread and the baking operation can promote the instability of the oil. Strategies have been developed that allow for the fortification of Omega-3 lipids in breads.
This chapter highlights the fortification of bread and bakery products as an alternative method for delivering Omega-3 to humans. It discusses the types and sources of Omega-3 lipids and the primary health benefits of these lipids and reviews consumer attitudes toward Omega-3 lipids. It also considers the development and manufacturing of Omega-3 fortified breads, discusses issues, such as oxidative stability, and the influence of Omega-3 sources on dough rheology and bread characteristics, and outlines the future trends in Omega-3 fortified breads.
(The author is executive sous chef at Novotel Pune Nagar Road)