Hot Topic Symposia
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
9:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.
Special Hot Topic Symposia have been developed in an effort to expand the breadth, scope, and timeliness of the technical program at the 99th AOCS Annual Meeting & Expo. Several Symposia will be held concurrently with no competition from Division programming.
- Alternate Oil Sources for Biodiesel and Solutions to Transportation Issues Faced by Processors
- The Castor Oil Plant: Uses and Commercial Production
- The Changing Face of Fatty Acids in our Foods
- Food Factors and Metabolic Syndromes
- Honoring 50 Years of Lipid Research by Earl G. Hammond: Modifying Lipids to Improve Food and Fuel
- Regional Approaches to Extra Virgin Olive Oil Quality
- Stearidonic Acid—A New Opportunity for Omega-3s
Alternate Oil Sources for Biodiesel and Solutions to Transportation Issues Faced by Processors
Speakers at this session will be invited to discuss food vs. fuel—oil seed demand and supply, algae processing, the future of fats and oils, future fuels, and the railroad industry—solutions to reduced service and increased costs. The symposium is being jointly sponsored by the International Oil Mill Superintendents Association (IOMSA) and the AOCS Processing Division.
Food Factors and Metabolic Syndromes
The rise in the prevalence of obesity is now recognized as a worldwide problem, with ominous implications for public health and health-related costs. It may be true that there are only two ways to treat obesity: reduce energy intake or increase energy expenditure. However, the simplicity of the energy-balance equation has led to an inappropriate focus on obesity as being either a problem of food intake control or energy expenditure; in practice, a rather more holistic and integrative approach is required.
This session will mainly be concerned with the anti-obesity effects of functional lipids and lipid-related compounds. An effort will also be made to outline the development of anti-obesity foods using these active compounds.
The Castor Oil Plant: Uses and Commercial Production
There is great interest in growing castor in the U.S. as an energy crop. As an annual crop, it yields 1,000-1,500 lbs. of oil per acre and after methyl esterification it has proven to be an even better lubricity agent than normal biodiesel. Due to its unique hydroxy functionality, it is also a source of chemical feedstock for high-value polymers, non-toxic plasticizers, greases, coatings, and cosmetics. This hot topic symposium will contain basics on castor and castor oil, the current state of castor research in the U.S., discussion on the potential of castor as a domestic crop, and the impact of castor on the world market.
The Changing Face of Fatty Acids in our Foods
This symposium will provide a comprehensive overview of fatty acids in the food supply from the perspective of nutrition and health, food functionality, and the industry view of barriers and opportunities for value-added edible oils. The nutritional focus will look at disease prevention and health optimization. The functional focus will examine advances in product formulation and processing options. Industry talks will address practical issues such as tightened reformulation schedules, labeling, and new health claim considerations, supply issues, and the corporate drive to meet consumer health and wellness demands.
Honoring 50 Years of Lipid Research by Earl Hammond: Modifying Lipids to Improve Food and Fuel
Invited speakers will present research they have carried out under the supervision of or in collaboration with Earl Hammond of Iowa State University (Ames, Iowa, USA). Topics may include lipid oxidation and oxidative stability of low-linolenic soybean oils, milk fat modification and soy cheese, biodiesel, biolubricants, triacylglycerol/phopholipid structure analysis, and oleaginous yeast.
Regional Approaches to Extra Virgin Olive Oil Quality
This symposium will include the latest research on the natural variations in the regional chemistry of olive oils from several regions of the world including Europe, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. Speakers will examine how and why this chemistry varies from region to region and from existing chemical standards as well as considering the current testing of traded olive oils for authenticity. In addition, presenters will examine new developments in chemically describing olive oil quality, particularly on a regional basis, as well as proposed new methods to assist with the authentication of olive oil. In particular, there will be a keynote presentation on new methods from Europe the describe and authenticate olive oil in an attempt to more closely align such methods to the qualities that are important to consumers.
Keynote Presentation:
New Analytical Possibilities to Survey Quality and Identity of Olive Oils. Christian Gertz, Official Institute of Chemical Analysis, Germany.
In the examination of foodstuffs such as olive oil, analytical procedures must always be performed at current levels of foodstuffs technology in order to protect consumer protection and confidence in good business practise. When analysis criteria and procedures are written into law the danger arises of possible distortion of the purpose of the analysis and numerous manipulations going undiscovered. The growing interest in the food safety requires simple, quick, inexpensive and efficient methods for the assessment of the traceability, authenticity and quality of foods. This is a question that is of particular interest to olive oil which has very complex aspects due to the large number of cultivars all over the world. The main target of screening analyses of fats and oils is to get a knowledge of its total composition. An analysis of the fatty acids may lead to a misidentification of the oil. It is also important to get information about the fatty acids distribution on glycerol triacylglycerols as the fatty acid profiles of some vegetable oils are too similar. Analysing triacylglycerols by LC is especially useful for verifying the presence of single triacylglycerols and analysing thermo-instable compounds. The European Regulation ECC 2568/91proposed to analyse the triacylglycerols by LC neglecting the advantages of GC over HPLC such as better separation efficiencies, reproducibility of retention data and availability of a simple and universal detector. The analysis of TAGs and FA delivers a set of measurements which is used to characterize the “pattern” of a sample. The Data of more than 2000 vegetable oils were processed by principal component analysis (PCA) to obtain a small number of those variables which contribute most to the variation between the pattern vectors whereas the remaining variables, which convey little extra information, can be rejected. This simple method can be used to identify vegetable oils and detect blends. The method was also been applied to differentiate the geographical origins of olive oils. The international standard for the organoleptic assessment of olive oils should help to classify olive oils. But, the sensory test requires a high degree of specialized knowledge and a group of 8 skilled testers. Furthermore, in the non-producing countries no or only a small number of sensory panels are available to carry out perform sensory test. Therefore, many researches have been performed studying the relationship between chemical quality criteria and the organoleptic grading. More than 1000 samples of authentic virgin olive oils from different areas in Europe and Northern Africa were analysed. The K232 and K270 values, the determination of the pyropheophytins and diacylglycerol-isomers were determined for a large number of more than 1000 samples to collect qualitative and quantitive information about the oxidation process during storage. A good correlation with the sensory test result was found for the 1,2-diacylglycerol content. The pyropheophytin content helps to detect thermally treated olive oils and to estimate the age of the oil.
Southern Hemisphere Olive Oil: Culture, Climate and Chemistry. Leandro Ravetti, Modern Olives, Australia.
Olive Oil Chemistry in Argentina. Amalia Carelli (1), Martha Melgarejo (2), (1) PLAPIQUI (UNS-CONICET), Argentina; (2) Argentinian Association for Fats and Oils, Argentina.
Olive Oil Chemistry in Australia: Analysis and Quality Parameters. Rod Mailer, Australian Oils Research Laboratory, Australia.
Surveillance and Analysis of Olive Oil in Canada. Angela Santagati, Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Canada.
Geographical Traceability of Olive Oils by Major and Minor Compounds. Diego Garcia Gonzalez, Institute de la Grasa, Spain.
Sensory Panel Analysis of Quality Defects and Quality Update. Florence Lacoste, Institute for Fats and Oils, France.
Olive Oil Standards in the USA. Speaker TBA, Californian Olive Oil Council, USA.
Stearidonic Acid—A New Opportunity for Omega-3s
Increasing the consumption of omega-3 fatty acids could improve human health, including cardiovascular disease, immune response disease disorders, and mental health. Current sources of omega-3 will be reviewed including not only their benefits but challenges which have impeded the incorporation of this bioactive lipid into the food supply. These challenges include flavor quality, stability, shelf life, and conversion to EPA and DHA. Although soybean oil is the predominant oil in the U.S., its composition is not ideal from a health profile and food processing perspective. However, this can be overcome by utilizing biotechnology to modify the oil composition. For example, through the over expression of lipid biosynthetic genes in the seed we have demonstrated the production of stearidonic acid (SDA) to the extent that the resulting modified oil can provide a much more sustainable and inexpensive source of omega-3 fatty acids. Other examples will be provided where through the over expression of genes, or suppression of endogenous genes, the oil can be tailored to a desired composition. SDA is a unique omega-3 fatty acid that is more oxidatively stable than EPA and DHA omega-3 fatty acids and is more bioactive than alpha-linolenic acid. Because of these properties, SDA has excellent potential as a functional food and feed ingredient for animals and aquaculture that could be used to increase the availability of omega-3 fatty acid in the diet. Obtaining SDA from soybean, a sustainable plant grown throughout the world, pressure on ocean fisheries for omega -3 fatty acids will be reduced.
Sustainable Oils and Fats Processing
The subjects of sustainability and CO2 emissions are constantly in the news; this session will look at new processing technologies that are being applied in oils and fats processing to improve the environmental impact of the industry. In particular, the organizers address the interesterification of margarine, "green" cosmetics, sustainable degumming, and the use and impact of enzymes in detergents.
Synthetic Diesel: Non-Methyl Ester Renewable Fuel
The growing interest by the oil industry in producing a more consistent and reliable product by hydrogenating the same natural feedstocks to make so-called "synthetic biodiesel" has sparked an intense debate within the biodiesel industry. The symposium will examine the economics and technical merits of hydrogenation vs. transesterification, as well as new catalytic processes for synthetic diesel production. Topics to be covered include state-of-the-art technology for vegetable oil and animal fat hydrogenation, a comparison of the process economics and product quality of the two processes, and evaluation of synthetic diesel.
An Overview of Synthetic Diesel Technology, John Wilson, NextEnergy, USA
Renewable Diesel Production via Hydrotreating of Oils and Fats, Xiaochun Xu, ConocoPhillips, USA