Margarine

Margarine(/ˈmɑːrdʒəriːn/,alsoUK:/ˈmɑːrɡə-,ˌmɑːrɡəˈriːn,ˌmɑːrdʒə-/,US:/ˈmɑːrdʒərɪn/)is aspreadused for flavoring, baking, and cooking. It is most often used as a substitute forbutter. Although originally made from animal fats, most margarine consumed today is made fromvegetable oil. The spread was originally namedoleomargarinefromLatinforoleum(olive oil) andGreekmargarite("pearl", indicating luster). The name was later shortened tomargarine,or sometimesoleo(particularly in theDeep South).
Margarine consists of a water-in-fat emulsion, with tiny droplets of water dispersed uniformly throughout a fatphasein a stable solid form.While butter is made by concentrating thebutterfatof milk through agitation, modern margarine is made through a more intensive processing of refinedvegetable oiland water.
Per US federal regulation, products must have a minimum fat content of 80% (with a maximum of 16% water) to be labeled as such in the United States,although the term is used informally to describe vegetable-oil-based spreads with lower fat content.
Margarine can be used as an ingredient in other food products, such as pastries, doughnuts, cakes, and cookies.
Margarine has its roots in the discovery by French chemistMichel Eugène Chevreulin 1813 ofmargaric acid.Scientists at the time regarded margaric acid, likeoleic acidandstearic acid, as one of the threefatty acidsthat, in combination, form most animal fats. In 1853, the German structural chemistWilhelm Heinrich Heintzanalyzed margaric acid as simply a combination of stearic acid and the previously unknownpalmitic acid.
After the French EmperorNapoleon IIIissued a challenge to create a butter-substitute frombeef tallowfor the armed forces and lower classes,Hippolyte Mège-Mourièsinvented margarine in 1869.Mège-Mouriès patented the product, which he named "oleomargarine", and expanded his initial manufacturing operation from France, but had little commercial success. In 1871, he sold the patent to the Dutch companyJurgens, which subsequently became part ofUnilever.In the same year a German pharmacist, Benedict Klein fromCologne, founded the first margarine factory in Germany, producing the brands Overstolz and Botteram.
The principal raw material in the original formulation of margarine was beef-fat.In 1871, Henry W. Bradley ofBinghamton, New York, received US Patent 110626for a process of creating margarine that combined vegetable oils (primarilycottonseed oil) with animal fats.In 1874, the first commercial cargo arrived in the UK.By the late-19th century, some 37 companies were manufacturing margarine in the US, in opposition to the butter industry, which protested and lobbied for government intervention, eventually leading to the 1886 Margarine Act imposing punitive fees against margarine manufacturers.
Shortages in beef-fat supply, combined with advances byJames F. BoyceandPaul Sabatierin thehydrogenationof plant materials, soon accelerated the use of Bradley's method, and between 1900 and 1920, commercial oleomargarine was produced from a combination of animal fats and hardened and unhardened vegetable oils.TheGreat Depression, followed byrationingin theUnited Statesand in theUnited Kingdom, among other countries, duringWorld War II, led to a reduction in supply of animal fat and butter, and, by 1945, "original" margarine had almost completely disappeared from the market.In the United States, problems with supply, coupled with changes in legislation, caused margarine manufacturers to switch almost completely to vegetable oils and fats by 1950, and the margarine industry was ready for an era of product development.
Carotenein the milk of grass-fed cows gives butter produced from such milk a slightly yellow color. However, being a synthetic product, margarine has a white color resemblinglard, which many people found unappetizing. Around the late 1880s, manufacturers began coloring margarine yellow to improve sales.
Dairy firms, especially inWisconsin, became alarmed at the potential threat to their business, and succeeded in getting legislation passed to prohibit the coloring of the stark white margarine by 1902. In response, margarine companies distributed margarine together with a packet of yellowfood coloring.The product was placed in a bowl and the coloring mixed in manually, taking some time and effort, especially if the mixing needed to be done by hand—typically the case at the time sincedomestic electric mixerswere rarely used before the 1920s. It was therefore not unusual for the final product to be served as a light and dark yellow, or even white, striped product. DuringWorld War II, butter and margarine were both in short supply and subject torationingin the United States, but butter required more points, causing margarine to gain popularity.In 1951, the W. E. Dennison Company received US Patent 2553513for a method to place a capsule of yellow dye inside a plastic package of margarine. After purchase, the capsule was broken by pressing on the outside of the package, and the package was kneaded to distribute the dye.
The artificial coloring laws began being repealed around 1955, and margarine could once again be sold colored like butter in most states. The final hold out was Wisconsin, which finally repealed its restrictions in 1967.
Around the 1930s and 1940s, Arthur Imhausen developed and implemented an industrial process in Germany for producing edible fats byoxidizingsynthetic paraffin waxmade from coal.The products werefractionally distilledand the edible fats were obtained from theC9–C16fractionwhich were reacted withglycerolsuch as that synthesized from propylene.Margarine made from them was found to be nutritious and of agreeable taste, and it was incorporated into diets contributing as much as 700 calories per day.The process required at least 60 kilograms of coal per kilogram of synthetic butter.That industrial process was discontinued after WWII due to its inefficiency.
During the Second World War and immediate post-war years amidrationing in the United Kingdom, only two types of margarine were available: a premium brand and a budget brand withwhale oilbeing used in its manufacture.With the end of rationing in 1955, the market was opened to the forces ofsupply and demand, and brand marketing became prevalent.The competition among the major producers was given further impetus with the beginning of commercial television advertising in 1955 and, throughout the 1950s and 1960s, competing companies vied with each other to produce the margarine that tasted most like butter.
In the mid-1960s, the introduction of two lower-fat blends of butter oil and vegetable oils in Scandinavia, calledLätt & LagomandBregott, clouded the issue of what should be called "margarine" and began the debate that led to the introduction of the term "spread".In 1978, an 80% fat product calledKrona, made by churning a blend of dairy cream and vegetable oils, was introduced in Europe and, in 1982, a blend of cream and vegetable oils calledCloverwas introduced in the UK by theMilk Marketing Board.The vegetable oil and cream spreadI Can't Believe It's Not Butter!was introduced into the United States in 1981, and in the United Kingdom and Canada in 1991.In the US, products with less than 80% fat can be labeled spreads, but they can not be called margarine.Since the word margarine is less popular with consumers, manufacturers developed some products to have slightly less than the minimum amount of fat, so that they can legally avoid labeling their products as margarine.
In the 21st century, margarine spreads had many developments to improve their consumer appeal. Most brands phased out the use ofhydrogenated oilsand becametrans fatfree. Many brands launched refrigerator-stable margarine spreads that contain only one-third of the fat and calorie content of traditional spreads. Other varieties of spreads include those with addedomega-3 fatty acids, low or no salt, addedplant sterols(claimed to reduceblood cholesterol),olive oil, or certifiedveganoils. In the early 21st century, manufacturers provided margarines in plastic squeeze bottles to ease dispensing and offered pink margarine as a novelty.
The basic method of making margarine today consists of emulsifying a blend of oils and fats from vegetable and animal sources, which can be modified usingfractionation,interesterificationorhydrogenation, with skimmed milk which may be fermented or soured, salt, citric or lactic acid, chilling the mixture to solidify it, and working it to improve the texture.Margarines and vegetable fat spreads found in the market can range from 10% to 90% fat, depending on dietary marketing and purpose (spreading, cooking or baking). The softer tub margarines are made with less hydrogenated and more liquid oils than block margarines.
Three types of margarine are common:
To produce margarine, first oils and fats areextracted, e.g. by pressing from seeds, and thenrefined. Oils may undergo a full or partial hydrogenation process to solidify them. The milk/water mixture is kept separate from the oil mixture until the emulsion step. The fats are warmed so that they are liquid during the mixing process. The water-soluble additives are added to the water or milk mixture, andemulsifierssuch aslecithinare added to help disperse the water phase evenly throughout the oil. Other water-soluble additives include powdered skim milk, salt, citric acid, lactic acid, and preservatives such aspotassium sorbate. The fat soluble additives are mixed into the oil. These include carotenoids for coloring and antioxidants. Then the two mixtures are emulsified by slowly adding the oil into the milk/water mixture with constant stirring. Next, the mixture is cooled. Rapid chilling avoids the production of large crystals and results in a smooth texture. The product is then rolled or kneaded. Finally, the product may be aerated with nitrogen to facilitate spreading it.
Vegetable and animal fats are similar compounds with differentmelting points. Fats that are liquid at room temperature are generally known as oils. The melting points are related to the presence of carbon–carbon double bonds in the fatty acids components. A higher number of double bonds gives a lower melting point. Oils can be converted into solid substances at room temperature through hydrogenation.
Commonly, natural oils are hydrogenated by passinghydrogengas through the oil in the presence of anickelcatalyst, under controlled conditions.The addition of hydrogen to the unsaturated bonds (alkenic double C=C bonds) results in saturated C–C bonds, effectively increasing the melting point of the oil and thus "hardening" it. This is due to the increase invan der Waals' forcesbetween the saturated molecules compared with the unsaturated molecules. However, as there are possible health benefits in limiting the amount of saturated fats in the human diet, the process is controlled so that only enough of the bonds are hydrogenated to give the required texture. Margarines made in this way are said to contain hydrogenated fat.This method is used today for some margarines although the process has been developed and sometimes other metal catalysts are used such aspalladium.If hydrogenation is incomplete (partial hardening), the relatively high temperatures used in the hydrogenation process tend to flip some of the carbon–carbon double bonds into the "trans" form. If these particular bonds are not hydrogenated during the process, they remain present in the final margarine in molecules oftrans fats,the consumption of which has been shown to be a risk factor forcardiovascular disease.For this reason, partially hardened fats are used less and less in the margarine industry. Some tropical oils, such aspalm oilandcoconut oil, are naturally semi-solid and do not require hydrogenation.
In a 100-gram reference amount, margarine – manufactured from soybean oil andpasteurized– provides 628 kilocalories (2,630 kJ) and is composed of 70% fat, 2%carbohydrates, 26% water, and negligibleprotein. The reference margarine was rich invitamin E(37% of theDaily Value, DV), containing 35 mggamma-tocopherol) andsodium(47% DV)addedas salt for flavor.Unlessfortifiedwithmicronutrientsduring manufacturing, there are no other nutrients in significant content.Vitamin Aandvitamin Dmay be added for fortification.
Margarine contains the possiblecarcinogensand toxins3-MCPD,2-MCPDandGlycidol. They are contaminants that are created during the oil refining process (especiallydeodorization).
The roles of butter and traditional margarine (80% fat) are similar with respect to their energy content, but low-fat margarines and spreads are also widely available.
Replacing saturated andtrans unsaturatedfats with unhydrogenated monounsaturated or polyunsaturated fats is more effective in preventing coronary heart disease than reducing overall fat intake.Seesaturated fat and cardiovascular disease.
Vegetable fats can contain anything from 7% to 86% saturated fatty acids. Liquid oils (canola oil,sunflower oil) tend to be on the low end, while tropical oils (coconut oil,palm kernel oil) and fully hardened (hydrogenated) oils are at the high end of the scale.A margarine blend is a mixture of both types of components. Generally, firmer margarines contain more saturated fat.
Typical soft tub margarine contains 10% to 20% of saturated fat.Regularbutterfatcontains 52 to 65% saturated fats.TheAmerican Institute of Medicineand theEuropean Food Safety Authorityrecommend saturated fat intake to be as low as possible.
Consumption ofunsaturated fattyacids has been found to decrease LDL cholesterol levels and increase HDL cholesterol levels in the blood, thus reducing the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases.
There are two types of unsaturated oils: mono- and poly-unsaturated fats, both of which are recognized as beneficial to health in contrast to saturated fats. Some widely grown vegetable oils, such ascanola,sunflower,safflower, andoliveoils contain high amounts of unsaturated fats.During the manufacture of margarine, makers may convert some unsaturated fat into hydrogenated fats ortrans fatsto give them a higher melting point so they stay solid at room temperatures.
Unlike essential fatty acids, trans fatty acids are not essential and provide no known benefit to human health besides providing calories. There is a positive linear trend between trans fatty acid intake and LDL cholesterol concentration, and therefore increased risk ofcoronary heart disease,by raising levels ofLDLcholesterol and lowering levels ofHDLcholesterol.
Several large studies have indicated a link between consumption of high amounts of trans fat and coronaryheart disease, and possibly some other diseases,prompting a number of government health agencies across the world to recommend that the intake of trans fats be minimized.
In the United States, partialhydrogenationhas been common as a result of preference for domestically produced oils. However, since the mid-1990s, many countries have started to move away from using partially hydrogenated oils.This led to the production of new margarine varieties that contain less or no trans fat.
The United StatesFood and Drug Administrationordered that trans fat is to be eliminated from food processing after a three-year grace period beginning in June 2015, to then be implemented by 18 June 2018.
High levels of cholesterol, particularlylow-density lipoprotein, are associated with an increased risk ofatherosclerosisandatheromaformation.The narrowing of blood vessels can cause reduced blood flow to the brain, heart, kidneys and other parts of the body.Cholesterol, though needed metabolically, is not essential in the diet, because the body's production increases as needed when dietary intake falls. The human body makes cholesterol in the liver, adapting the production according to its food intake, producing about 1 g of cholesterol each day or 80% of the needed total body cholesterol. The remaining 20% comes directly from food intake.
Overall intake of cholesterol as food has less effect on blood cholesterol levels than the type of fat eaten.Most margarines are vegetable-based and thus contain no cholesterol, while a teaspoon (5 grams) of butter contains 10.8 mg of cholesterol.
Plantsterol estersor plantstanol estershave been added to some margarines and spreads because of their cholesterol-lowering effect. Several studies have indicated that consumption of about 2 grams per day provides a reduction in LDL cholesterol of about 10%.
Margarine, particularly polyunsaturated margarine, has become a major part of the Western diet and had overtaken butter in popularity in the mid-20th century.In the United States, for example, in 1930, the average person ate over 18 lb (8.2 kg) of butter a year and just over 2 lb (0.91 kg) of margarine. By the end of the 20th century, an average American ate around 5 lb (2.3 kg) of butter and nearly 8 lb (3.6 kg) of margarine.
Consumers may choose margarine for a number of reasons, including lower cost, ease of availability, a perception (primarily relevant for vegetable-based margarines) that it is healthier than butter, a desire to avoid consuming animal-based products (of particular concern forvegansand also based on the assumption that the margarine is vegetable-based) and/or a simple personal preference to butter and/or other spreads on account of taste.
Margarine has a particular market value to those who observe the Jewish dietary laws ofKashrut, which forbids the mixing of meat and dairy products; hence there are strictlykoshernon-dairy margarines available, known aspareve. One brand known to the Kosher-keeping public is Fleischmann's Margarine. These are often used by the kosher-observant consumers to adapt recipes that use meat and butter or in baked goods served with meat meals. The2008 Passover margarine shortagein America caused much consternation within the kosher-observant community.
Regular margarine contains trace amounts of animal products such aswheyor dairycaseinextracts. However, margarine that strictly does not contain animal products also exists. Such margarines provide avegansubstitute for butter.
Margarine is common in Australian supermarkets. Sales of the product have decreased in recent years due to consumers "reducing their use of spreads in their daily diet".Butter-colored margarine was sold from its introduction in Australia, but dairy and associated industries lobbied governments strongly in a vain attempt to have them change its color, or ban it altogether.
Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code– Standard 2.4.2 – Edible Oil Spreads requires that edible oil spreads and table margarine must contain no less than 55 μg/kg of vitamin D.
Canadian standard B.09.016 states that margarine shall be:
Calorie-reduced margarine is specified in standard B.09.017 as:
In 2007,Health Canadareleased an updated version ofCanada's Food Guidethat recommended Canadians choose "soft" margarine spreads that are low in saturated and trans fats and limit traditional "hard" margarines, butter, lard, and shortening in their diets.
Under European Union directives,distinguishes between spreadable fats:
and margarine:
Margarines may not have a milk fat content of more than 3%. For blends and blended spreads, the milk fat may be between 10% and 80%.
Spread that contains 60 to 62% of fat may be called "three-quarter-fat margarine" or "reduced-fat margarine".
Spread that contains 39 to 41% of fat may be called "half-fat margarine", "low-fat margarine", or "light margarine".
Spreads with any other percentage of fat are called "fat spread" or "light spread".
Many member states currently require the mandatory addition of vitamins A and D to margarine and fat spreads for reasons of public health. Voluntary fortification of margarine with vitamins had been practiced by manufacturers since 1925, but in 1940 with the advent of the war, certain governments took action to safeguard the nutritional status of their nations by making the addition of vitamin A and D compulsory. This mandatory fortification was justified in the view that margarine was being used to replace butter in the diet.
In the United Kingdom, no brands of spread on sale contain partially hydrogenated oils. Fortification with vitamins A and D is no longer mandatory for margarine,this brings it in line with other spreads wherein fortification is not required.
Since margarine intrinsically appears white or almost white, by preventing the addition of artificial coloring agents, legislators found they could protect the dairy industries by discouraging the consumption of margarine based on visual appeal. If margarine were colored the same as butter, consumers would see it as being virtually the same thing as butter, and as a quasi-natural product. Bans on adding color became commonplace in the United States, Canada, and Denmark and, in some cases, those bans endured for almost 100 years. The rivalry between the dairy industry and the oleomargarine industry persists even today.
In Canada, margarine was prohibited from 1886 to 1948, though this ban was temporarily lifted from 1917 until 1923 due to dairy shortages.Nevertheless, bootleg margarine was produced in the neighboringDominion of Newfoundlandfrom whale,seal, andfishoil by theNewfoundland Butter Companyand was smuggled to Canada where it was widely sold for half the price of butter. TheSupreme Court of Canadalifted the margarine ban in 1948 in theMargarine Reference. That year, Newfoundland negotiated its entry into the Canadian Confederation, and one of its three non-negotiable conditions for union with Canada was a constitutional protection for the new province's right to manufacture margarine.
In 1950, as a result of a court ruling giving provinces the right to regulate the product, rules were implemented in much of Canada regarding margarine's color, requiring that it be bright yellow or orange in some provinces or colorless in others. By the 1980s, most provinces had lifted the restriction. However, inOntarioit was not legal to sell butter-colored margarine until 1995.Quebec, the last Canadian province to regulate margarine coloring, repealed its law requiring margarine to be colorless in July 2008.
In New Zealand, the Margarine Acts of 1895 and 1908 prohibited the manufacture of margarine without a licence from theMinister of Agricultureand made it illegal to "mix, colour, stain, or powder margarine with any ingredient or material so as to imitate butter".The acts were repealed by theDairy Industry Amendment Act 1989, however previous amendments in 1972 and 1980 had allowed "virtually an opened market".
In 1877, New York became the first U.S. state to attempt legal restriction of the sale of oleomargarine through compulsory labeling. The law, "to prevent deception in sales of butter," required retailers to provide customers with a slip of paper that identified the "imitation" product as margarine. This law proved ineffective, as it would have required an army of inspectors and chemists to enforce it. By the mid-1880s, the U.S. federal government had introduced a tax of two cents per pound, and manufacturers needed an expensive license to make or sell the product. The simple expedient of requiring oleo manufacturers to color their product distinctively was, however, left out of early federal legislation. But individual states began to require the clear labeling of margarine. The color bans, drafted by the butter lobby, began in the dairy states of New York andNew Jersey. In several states, legislatures enacted laws to require margarine manufacturers to add pink coloringsto make the product look unpalatable, despite the objections of the oleo manufacturers that butter dairies themselves addedannattoto their product to imitate the yellow of mid-summer butter.
By the start of the 20th century, eight out of ten Americans could not buy yellow margarine, and those who could had to pay a hefty tax on it.Bootlegcolored margarine became common, and manufacturers began to supply food-coloring capsules so the consumer could knead the yellow color into margarine before serving it. Nevertheless, the regulations and taxes had a significant effect: the 1902 restrictions on margarine color, for example, cut annual consumption in the United States from 120,000,000 to 48,000,000 pounds (54,000 to 22,000 t).
With the coming ofWorld War I, margarine consumption increased enormously, even in countries away from the front, such as the United States. In the countries closest to the fighting, dairy products became almost unobtainable and were strictlyrationed. The United Kingdom, for example, depended on imported butter from Australia and New Zealand, and the risk ofsubmarineattacks meant little arrived.
The long-running battle between the margarine and dairy lobbies continued: in the United States, theGreat Depressionbrought a renewed wave of pro-dairy legislation; theSecond World War, a swing back to margarine. After the war, the margarine lobby gained power and, little by little, the main margarine restrictions were lifted, the most recent states to do so beingMinnesotain 1963 andWisconsinin 1967.Lois Dowdle Cobb (1889–1987) ofAtlanta, wife of the agricultural publisherCully Cobb, led the move in the United States to lift the restrictions on margarine.Some unenforced laws remain on the books.