ARS News Service
Agricultural Research Service, USDA
August 27, 1997
Dawn Johnson, (309) 681-6534, [email protected]
Squeezing Fat Out of Foods
It sounds like a dieter's dream: finding a way to squeeze the fat out of
foods we love, like big juicy hamburgers.
Scientists with USDA's Agricultural Research Service have developed a way
to do just that--not for the sake of counting calories, but for food
analysis--while reducing the steps and chemical solvents now used to
analyze foods' fat content for nutritional labeling.
By teaming a technology called supercritical fluid extraction with an
enzyme called lipase, the scientists can simultaneously extract fat from
hamburger samples and complete the chemical reaction needed to release the
fats. In conventional fat analysis, the sample must first be treated with
chemical solvent to break down the bonds in the meat which hold the fat
molecules in place. Then more chemicals are required to actually extract
the fat.
Supercritical fluids are highly compressed gases, such as carbon dioxide,
with densities that resemble those of liquids. In an extraction chamber,
the fluid flows through a sample and dissolves specific chemicals, or fats
in the case of food extractions. The gas is then decompressed and
harmlessly vented into the atmosphere, leaving the extracted fats behind.
###
Scientific contact: Janet M. Snyder, USDA-ARS Food Quality and Safety
Laboratory, NCAUR, Peoria, Ill.; phone 309-681-6236,
[email protected].
* ARS Info on the World Wide Web: http://www.ars.usda.gov/is
* The ARS Information Staff is at 6303 Ivy Lane, 4th Floor, Greenbelt MD
20770, phone (301) 344-2303, fax 344-2311.
RSS