The fatty acids and triglycerides (TAG) composition of fats from filled cookies depends on the functionality and it is important for consumers in nutritional terms. Related with the last one, there is an increase in the food industry to not use partially hydrogenated fats and reduce the use of saturated fats. For all the reasons mentionated before, in this work the fatty acid profile and TAG composition of fats from different commercial samples of filled cookies currently marketed in Uruguay were determinated to define their lipid profiles. The lipid profile was analyzed only in the cookie (OC), only in the filling (OF) and the entire filled cookie (FC). For this, the fat was extracted using Hara & Radin method and then derivatized to fatty acid methyl esters to analyze the fatty acid profile by GC. The TAG composition was analyzed by HPLC and classified for partition number (PN).
The results showed that the fat content in OF is higher than in OC. The fat content in FC was between 19,2 and 23,1 %. All filled cookies showed high levels of palmitic acid (P) and oleic acid (O) between 28,3 – 45 % and 34 – 46,7 %, respectively. The content of trans fatty acid was low in all the samples analyzed (0,04 – 0,22 %).
The results demonstrate that the TAG composition changes between OC and OF; the highest percentage of TAG correspond to PN = 48 represent by the following main TAG: OOO, POO, POP and PPP. In OF the TAG with PN values lower than 48 tend to decrease, while TAG with PN values higher than 48 tend to increase. These last are related to TAG mostly tri-saturated.
The results suggest that there are advances in the use of low or zero-trans fats in the food industry. However, high saturated fats are present. Obviously, this represents a significant challenge. For this reason, it is important to continue research in design fats that confer consistency and texture with lower saturated TAG content.