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Oils and fats
Oils, fats, trans fats and saturated fats
Oils and fats are absolutely vital to us. Like carbohydrates and sugar, oils and fats act as fuel and are sources of energy for the body.
Do we need fat in our food?
The body needs fat to perform a number of functions. Vitamins A, D and E are only found in fat, and many other nutrients are also only available this way. If we do not get enough fat, we can easily develop deficiency diseases. If we eat too much, the body starts to store it, which also causes complications.
What is fat?
In technical terms, oils and fats are called lipids or triglycerides. Animals and plants produce a broad range of different fat types. They may be saturated or unsaturated. At room temperature, they can exist in solid form (tallow, butter) or in liquid form (vegetable oil, cod-liver oil). As a rule of thumb, we can say that the more unsaturated the fat is, the more liquid it is. Unsaturated fat is also more unstable (turns rancid more easily) than saturated fat. Unsaturated fat can exist in two forms called trans fat and cis fat. In the natural environment, trans fat is found in fats from ruminant animals (in meat and dairy products). Otherwise, only saturated fat or unsaturated cis fat occurs naturally.
Which types of fats and oils does Rieber & Søn use?
The dried savoury products in Toro, Vitana and Delecta’s product ranges are low in fat, while cakes and mayonnaise-based products contain more Ready prepared products (soups and sauces) contain less than 2% fat, but the content will increase if you add milk, sour cream or cheese. Oils and fats are essential components of mayonnaise-based salads, sardines in oil, crispy deep-fried onions and some other products. Depending on the product category, marine oils, rapeseed oil, soya been oil, olive oil, palm oil or other vegetable oils are used for these products.
Before we became aware of the health risk associated with trans fat, Rieber & Søn also used trans fats, but it was removed from all products in autumn 2004. After a few years of using palm oil, we started using rapeseed oil (some sunflower oil) in spring 2010. Rieber & Søn now mainly uses rapeseed oil in all its dried products, although we still (spring 2011) have to use palm oil for a few product categories (in the Netherlands and the Czech Republic). Product development considers the phasing out of palm oil to be a priority.
What is trans fat, and where does it come from?
Some types of oils/fats are too unstable to be used in many types of food. In the mid-20th century, the industry started using a technique to make liquid fat more solid by adding hydrogen (hydrogenation). We have mentioned trans fat and cis fat. Through the process of partial hydrogenation, some of the natural unsaturated cis fats are converted into trans fats. Because it was unknown in the 1950s that partially hydrogenised fat could pose a health risk, it was widely used.
Is trans fat dangerous?
In November 2003, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended limiting the intake of trans fat. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) recently investigated the use/effect of trans fat and concluded that the intake of trans fat should be restricted. Extensive use can be hazardous to health (increased risk of cardio-vascular diseases and thrombosis), but the levels in a normal European diet are well below the risk limit.
Palm oil? What about the rain forests and endangered species?
As already mentioned, we still have a few remaining categories that contain palm oil, but we are looking into the possibility of phasing out this use. The background is twofold. First of all, palm oil has a relatively high content of saturated fat, which should be avoided for health reasons. Secondly, there are ethical dilemmas relating to the production of palm oil.
In some parts of the world, palm oil is produced in a manner that impacts on the rain forests, and the conditions for the workers are less than satisfactory. We only make purchases from suppliers that are members of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), whose main goal it is to promote the growth and use of sustainable palm oil through collaboration throughout the value chain and an open dialogue with the affected parties.
The RSPO works closely with WWF Indonesia, the Zoological Society of London and Fauna International to monitor the rain forests and the game population in the area. The organisation is actively involved in employees’ rights and welfare, and the local authorities in Indonesia hold up its activities as an example (model) of how to attend to the environment and social rights.