Journal of Oil Palm Research Vol. 26 (4) December 2014, p. 340-354

MINIMISING POST-HARDENING IN PALM OIL/SUNFLOWER OIL SOFT MARGARINE FORMULATION BY OPTIMISING PROCESSING CONDITIONS

MISKANDAR MAT SAHRI* and ZALIHA OMAR*

ABSTRACT

The occurrence of post-hardening in margarine and shortening could lead to serious quality problem resulting in the rejection of the product. Choice of the oils and fats, processing conditions, transportation and storage are some of the common causes of the problem. The effects of processing parameters, obtained from the response surface methodology (RSM) experimental design, on the product consistencies, expressed in yield values (g cm-2), were studied. Simple margarine blend of palm and sunflower oils was used as the model sample. Variation in the process conditions employed in the study produced margarines with significant differences in their consistencies at 5°C, 10°C, 15°C and 20°C. Soft margarine of desired consistency could be produced by varying the throughput speed up to 60 kg hr-1, together with the increase in speed of SSHE1 and SSHE2 at > 500 rpm, while at low throughput <60 kg hr-1, a high pin-rotor speed should be adopted.

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* Malaysian Palm Oil Board, 6 Persiaran Institusi, Bandar Baru Bangi, 43000 Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia.
E-mail: miskand@mpob.gov.my