Every day, tons of products such as cookies, ice cream, margarine, creams, instant pasta, chocolates, dairy drinks, etc., produced by large companies, are consumed in Brazil. And this consumption is still high. Studies based on the Family Budget Survey (POF), prepared by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) in the years 2008–2009 and 2017–2018, pointed out a increase of 5,5% in the consumption of ultra-processed foods in Brazil throughout this period. Furthermore, at the end of the last decade, these foods accounted for 20% of the total energy consumed by Brazilians.
Ultra-processed foods can be rich in saturated fats and raise LDL levels in the body (known as “bad cholesterol”). For this reason, researchers around the world have been studying alternatives to overcome this problem for many years, making industrialized products healthier, without losing characteristics such as their flavor and texture.
With this objective, one of Unicamp's longest-lasting partnerships emerged with Cargill, responsible for directly influencing the pattern of fat consumption in the country. The company, a giant in the food sector present in around 70 countries, processes and distributes grains and other goods to supply food manufacturers aimed at human and animal consumption. The research and development (R&D) project implemented in partnership with Faculty of Food Engineering (FEA) brought innovation to the sector by creating a product with a low trans fat content and which, in the early 2000s, already had a high reduction in saturates by the standards of the time.
How research into low saturated fat began
The process began almost two decades ago, following market demand. At the time, two multinationals approached Unicamp to develop a research agreement that aimed to remove trans fat from cookie fillings. In 2007, Unicamp and Cargill signed an agreement that would result in an award-winning patent in the Licensed Technology and Technology Absorbed by the Market categories at the Unicamp Inventors Award, in the 2011 edition, organized by Inova Unicamp. From this partnership, carried out specifically with researchers from the Oils and Fats Laboratory From FEA, the knowledge for producing the new fat advanced and was transferred to Cargill, being sold in the form of products that were then added to the cookie filling manufacturing process.
The studies continued in the Unicamp laboratory, now without private investment. In 2012, it was Unicamp's turn to approach Cargill with a new innovative solution for the ingredients market. It was a way to further reduce the saturated fat content in various foods, without altering the flavor or texture of the products.
After a series of studies that included bench tests, pilot-scale production, application in final products and sensory evaluation, the product was ready. The new fat began to be manufactured on an industrial scale and began to be supplied to food manufacturers, which, in turn, were able to reduce the levels of trans and saturated fat in hundreds of products consumed in Brazil. A partnership that, to this day, yields considerable resources to Unicamp in the form of royalties.
“The Inova Unicamp Innovation Agency participated in all stages of these processes, from the initial contact with the company to the preparation of the licensing contract. Cargill is one of Unicamp's important success stories in technology transfer. In addition to the positive impact on society, this university-company relationship generates royalties that help turn the wheel of innovation at Unicamp”, recalls Iara Regina da Silva Ferreira, Business and Innovation coordinator at Innovates Unicamp.
Unprecedented technology worldwide
Retired FEA teacher Lireny Aparecida Guaraldo Gonçalves, honored by Inova Unicamp in 2023 for his contribution to the protection of intellectual property and for initiatives aimed at innovation at Unicamp, participated in the development of the new fat since the first research. “The whole world was looking for a solution like this”, comments Gonçalves.
“Researchers from several countries were looking for a way to reduce the use of trans fat in foods. But it was necessary to find a substitute product with less saturated fat content, which had the same sensory characteristics and whose industrial manufacturing process was viable. The challenge was very big”, comments the inventor.
The professor supervised researcher Renato Grimaldi's doctorate at FEA Unicamp, who would later participate in and work on the development of the new technology. Grimaldi says that, initially, a large food multinational had approached FEA to develop a fat with a lower saturation level. “However, it was necessary to have a fat supplier so that the new ingredient could be delivered to this food industry. It was at that moment, 16 years ago, that the relationship with Cargill in this research emerged,” she explains.
Thus, the team at FEA's Oils and Fats Laboratory developed the first technology, a fat with a lower saturation content, which began to be used in the filling of industrialized biscuits. “But we knew that the reduction in this content could be greater. We could improve this fat even further”, recalls the researcher.
Research that anticipated market demands
Grimaldi comments that he had the habit of following the public sessions of the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) It's from Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, in Brasilia. Therefore, he knew that saturated fat, as well as sodium and sugar, had been targeted by public health agencies in the past decade and that an even greater reduction in their consumption would soon be required by the government. “We then decided to advance this research, independently, this time without partnerships with companies. Market demand would inevitably arise. We decided to anticipate this demand,” he comments.
According to him, the new research phase aimed at four essential points to meet industry requirements:
“A solution was needed that did not affect the sensorial aspects of the fat – the same creaminess, consistency and texture –, whose shelf life had to be long enough not to reduce the shelf life of the food, the cost of which could not be higher than that of the fat used until then and which, in addition to all this, could not require the replacement of the machinery in the industrial facilities of these large companies”.
At this stage of development, the researcher recalls that he participated in hundreds of sensory tests with the products. “We managed to arrive at a new fat, with a content of around 35% saturates. A product with great stability, as the lower the saturation, the greater the tendency for the fat to behave in a liquid form, which is typical of unsaturated fats. The new fat has excellent structural and thermal stability, meaning it ensures that food does not oxidize easily, maintaining its structure and uniformity,” he explains.
With the publication of a new Anvisa resolution, this one more demanding, the partnership with Cargill was resumed, allowing the technology to now advance in its commercial development. In an interview with Podcast Ready for the Future, in celebration of ten years of the Cargill Innovation Center, Marcos Guirardello, leader of research and development in the company's consumer products and oils and fats area, spoke about the multinational's relationship with Unicamp:
“We have a long-standing partnership with the University and innovation projects require us to leave our comfort zone. This mutual trust has already helped us, allowing for better openness and interaction and the emergence of strategic products, as was the case with Lévia+e. We collaborated with whatever was necessary for researchers to make the most of their knowledge and execution potential, taking into account mainly the facilities and resources we have in our innovation center. The result was a product that was and still is very successful”, says Guirardello.
Read the full article published on the Inova Unicamp Innovation Agency website.
