Inside Research at Utah State University
At Utah State University’s Sunrise Sessions, faculty and students share their research with community members and business leaders from the Wasatch Front. Held quarterly in downtown Salt Lake City, these early-morning presentations detail how USU research addresses pressing issues that impact Utah’s citizens and its future.
All are invited to attend these events at no charge thanks to generous sponsorship by Regence Blue Cross Blue Shield.
Each session is free and open to the public.
Next Session: May 22, 2018 | Silvana Martini
A New Approach for Structuring Healthy Edible Fats
The Food and Drug Administration eliminated the “Generally Recognized as Safe” status of partially hydrogenated oils (PHO) in 2015. Although PHO are detrimental to human health they are ideal for food formulations since they provide texture and mouthfeel to foods. The elimination of GRAS status of PHO has challenged food scientists to find new fats and/or processing technologies with necessary physical properties for use in food applications while improving nutritional properties. Over the past 10 years The Martini Lab has explored the use of high intensity ultrasound to induce the crystallization of healthy fats. Research in her lab has shown that this technology can be used to structure fat at a molecular level and improve texture of the product. This presentation will summarize past, present, and future research in this topic and will provide a vision for the next steps in this area of research.
